@Article{info:doi/10.2196/54739,
author="Dangerfield II, Derek T
and Anderson, Janeane N
and Wylie, Charleen
and Bluthenthal, Ricky
and Beyrer, Chris
and Farley, Jason E",
title="A Multicomponent Intervention (POSSIBLE) to Improve Perceived Risk for HIV Among Black Sexual Minority Men: Feasibility and Preliminary Effectiveness Pilot Study",
journal="JMIR Hum Factors",
year="2024",
month="Jun",
day="11",
volume="11",
pages="e54739",
keywords="pre-exposure prophylaxis; PrEP; sexual health; peers; apps; community; mobile phone; HIV; sexual minority; minority communities; minority; Black; African American; patient education; self-monitoring; treatment adherence; treatment participation; community health; mobile health; digital health; digital technology; digital interventions; smartphones",
abstract="Background: Increased pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use is urgently needed to substantially decrease HIV incidence among Black sexual minority men. Low perceived risk for HIV (PRH) is a key unaddressed PrEP barrier for Black sexual minority men. Peers and smartphone apps are popular intervention tools to promote community health behaviors, but few studies have used these together in a multicomponent strategy. Therefore, we designed a multicomponent intervention called POSSIBLE that used an existing smartphone app called PrEPme (Emocha Mobile Health, Inc) and a peer change agent (PCA) to increase PRH as a gateway to PrEP. Objective: This paper aims to describe the feasibility and preliminary impact of POSSIBLE on PRH and willingness to accept a PrEP referral among Black sexual minority men. Methods: POSSIBLE was a theoretically guided, single-group, 2-session pilot study conducted among Black sexual minority men from Baltimore, Maryland between 2019 and 2021 (N=69). POSSIBLE integrated a PCA and the PrEPme app that allows users to self-monitor sexual risk behaviors and chat with the in-app community health worker to obtain PrEP service information. PRH was assessed using the 8-item PRH scale before and after baseline and follow-up study visits. At the end of each study visit, the PCA referred interested individuals to the community health worker to learn more about PrEP service options. Results: The average age of participants was 32.5 (SD 8.1, range 19-62) years. In total, 55 (80{\%}) participants were retained for follow-up at month 1. After baseline sessions, 29 (42{\%}) participants were willing to be referred to PrEP services, 20 (69{\%}) of those confirmed scheduled appointments with PrEP care teams. There were no statistically significant differences in PRH between baseline and follow-up visits (t122=--1.36; P=.17). Conclusions: We observed no statistically significant improvement in PRH between baseline and month 1. However, given the high retention rate and acceptability, POSSIBLE may be feasible to implement. Future research should test a statistically powered peer-based approach on PrEP initiation among Black sexual minority men. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04533386; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04533386 ",
issn="2292-9495",
doi="10.2196/54739",
url="https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2024/1/e54739",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/54739",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38861707"
}