In this revised application, the Principal Investigator describes a four-year research program to examine the role of six socioculural factors--machismo, homophobia, family cohesion, sexual silence, poverty, and racism--hypothesized as major barriers to safer sex practices among Latino homosexual/bisexual men in the United States. Qualitative, quantitative, and pilot intervention data will be collected from men who represent three major ethnic groups in three US urban centers highly impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Puerto Ricans in New York; Mexicans in Los Angeles, and Cubans in Miami. The research program consists of three interrelated studies that will form the knowledge base needed to conduct culturally-relevant and subgroup-targeted HIV prevention interventions with the vulnerable Latino population. Study #1 is a qualitative effort to expand and elaborate upon the sociocultural model of HIV risk as applied to subgroups that vary in nationality (Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban), acculturation (Predominantly English Speaking; Predominantly Spanish Speaking), and age (<26, >25). Study #2 is a quantitative effort to develop a reliable psychometric instrument and test empirically the validity of the sociocultural model in a representative bar sample of Latino homosexual/bisexual men in the three cities (n=300; N=900). Study #3 is a pilot test of an intervention in which the research, specifically addressing empirically-tested sociocultural predictors of risk, will attempt to reduce the episodes of risky sexual behavior in the subgroup with the highest rate of risk behavior as identified in Study #2. For this third study, the researchers will develop and implement a culturally-relevant, subgroup-targeted intervention and pilot test its effectiveness in reducing risky behavior, in comparison to a safer sex workshop that represent the """"""""standard of care"""""""" for homosexual men in the identified city. By the end of the proposed project, the researchers will have produced and tested an intervention protocol that is theory-based, culturally-relevant, and highly-targeted in both content and population subgroup. Thus the protocol will be ready for expansion and application to other subgroups at risk and ready for large-scale randomized intervention trials to reduce the alarming rates of unprotected sexual intercourse among Latino homosexual/bisexual men.
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