HIV continues to spread among Black men who have sex with men (MSM), but few interventions target high- risk Black men who have sex with men and women (MSM/W). Black MSM/W with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may be an especially vulnerable population for: a) high-risk sexual behaviors; b) negative psychological sequelae (e.g., depressive or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms); and c) neurobiological abnormalities in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and/or immune systems (e.g. cortisol and norepinephrine), and HIV/AIDS progression. This 3-year R34 pilot study, An HIV Intervention for Black Men at Risk, builds on the evidenced-base NIMH-funded Women's Health Intervention and a state funded HIV risk reduction pilot, The Men's Sexual Risk Reduction Project, for HIV positive gay-identifying African American and Latino MSM with histories of sexual abuse. This study will consist of three phases: Phase I. The Formative Phase will include three 90-minute focus groups to identify feasibility issues and factors pertinent to recruiting and conducting a psychosocial intervention such as perceptions of masculinity and gender roles. Two groups will include HIV positive Black MSM/W with histories of CSA and the third group with community leaders that work with non-gay identifying Black MSM/W. In Phase II-The Pilot, we will modify the existing manualized Men's Sexual Risk Reduction intervention and pilot it on 8-10 non-gay identifying HIV positive Black MSM/W with histories of CSA. In Phase Three-The Intervention, guided by the Social Learning Theory, the Ecological Model, and the concept of allostatic load, a composite of the cumulative effects of stress on biological systems including psychoneuroimmonologic markers, we will test the 6-session Enhanced Sexual Health Intervention for Men (ES-HIM) on 88 non-gay identifying HIV positive Black MSM/W with histories of CSA. The outcomes are to reduce high-risk sexual behavior (i.e., unprotected anal and vaginal sex) and negative psychological symptoms of depression and PTSD. Links between these outcomes and biomarkers of stress will be explored. Randomization to either the ES-HIM or a health promotion (HP) control group will occur with participants assessed at baseline, post, 3- and 6-months. A full spectrum of univariate and multivariate approaches will be used to evaluate the efficacy of randomization at baseline, to test for group differences at baseline as a function of CSA severity, as well as to test for treatment effect differences over time on the primary outcomes of interest. The findings from this pilot study will be used in the application for a larger NIMH R01 intervention. The Enhanced Sexual Health Intervention for Men (ES-HIM) is a biopsychosocial HIV risk reduction intervention.
Its aims are to decrease high-risk sexual behaviors and depressive and PTSD symptoms among HIV-positive non-gay identifying Black men who have sex with men and women and who have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Besides improving mental health and helping to decrease the risk of HIV re-infection and transmission among these men and their male and female partners, ES-HIM explores the relationship between these outcomes and biomarkers of stress. Understanding these associations may be important in improving mental and physical health of this vulnerable population of men.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Planning Grant (R34)
Project #
3R34MH077550-02S1
Application #
7692608
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-ERB-H (08))
Program Officer
Forsyth, Andrew D
Project Start
2007-09-01
Project End
2010-08-31
Budget Start
2008-09-30
Budget End
2009-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$119,700
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
092530369
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
Loeb, Tamra Burns; Joseph, Nataria T; Wyatt, Gail E et al. (2018) Predictors of somatic symptom severity: The role of cumulative history of trauma and adversity in a diverse community sample. Psychol Trauma 10:491-498
Ruzicka, W Brad; Subburaju, Sivan; Benes, Francine M (2015) Circuit- and Diagnosis-Specific DNA Methylation Changes at ?-Aminobutyric Acid-Related Genes in Postmortem Human Hippocampus in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. JAMA Psychiatry 72:541-51
Myers, Hector F; Wyatt, Gail E; Ullman, Jodie B et al. (2015) Cumulative burden of lifetime adversities: Trauma and mental health in low-SES African Americans and Latino/as. Psychol Trauma 7:243-51
Liu, Honghu; Prause, Nicole; Wyatt, Gail E et al. (2015) Development of a composite trauma exposure risk index. Psychol Assess 27:965-74
Allen, Vincent C; Myers, Hector F; Williams, John K (2014) Depression among Black bisexual men with early and later life adversities. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol 20:128-37
Glover, Dorie A; Williams, John K; Kisler, Kimberly A (2013) Using novel methods to examine stress among HIV-positive African American men who have sex with men and women. J Behav Med 36:283-94
Morozova, Olga A; March, Zachary M; Robinson, Anne S et al. (2013) Conformational features of tau fibrils from Alzheimer's disease brain are faithfully propagated by unmodified recombinant protein. Biochemistry 52:6960-7
Williams, John K; Glover, Dorie A; Wyatt, Gail E et al. (2013) A sexual risk and stress reduction intervention designed for HIV-positive bisexual African American men with childhood sexual abuse histories. Am J Public Health 103:1476-84
Kisler, Kimberly A; Williams, John K (2012) Image versus Health: The Role of Perceptions of Masculinity on Sexual Risk Behaviors among HIV-Positive African American Men who have Sex with Men and Women. J AIDS Clin Res Suppl 1:
Sheng, Guoqing; Demers, Matthew; Subburaju, Sivan et al. (2012) Differences in the circuitry-based association of copy numbers and gene expression between the hippocampi of patients with schizophrenia and the hippocampi of patients with bipolar disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 69:550-61

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications