A Pragmatic Clinical Trial of MyPEEPS Mobile to Improve HIV Prevention Behaviors in Diverse Adolescent MSM

Status:	Recruiting
Conditions:	HIV / AIDS
Therapuetic Areas:	Immunology / Infectious Diseases
Healthy:	No
Age Range:	13 - 18
Updated:	1/17/2019
Start Date:	June 1, 2018
End Date:	April 2021
Contact:	Rebecca Schnall, PhD
Email:	rb897@cumc.columbia.edu
Phone:	212-342-6886

The proposed MyPEEPS Mobile intervention is a novel and evidence-driven intervention using
mobile technology to deliver HIV prevention information specifically developed for at-risk
young men who have sex with men (YMSM). This will be the one of the first studies to test the
efficacy of a scaled-up, mobile version of an existing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
prevention intervention originally developed for, designed by, and piloted for, a diverse
group of YMSM.

MyPEEPS Mobile will be tested in an randomized controlled trial with racially and ethnically
diverse HIV-negative or unknown status YMSM aged 13-18 at four geographically diverse sites:
Birmingham, Chicago, New York City, and Seattle, allowing for increased generalizability of
findings.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a greater burden of HIV/AIDS than any other population
group in the US, comprising only 2% of the population but 56% of individuals living with
HIV/AIDS. Although much of the increased incidence in HIV has been reported among YMSM,
especially among racial and ethnic minority groups, and is linked to high-risk sexual
behavior, there remains a dearth of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for YMSM -
and none that address racially/ethnically diverse YMSM. To address this need, this study
leverages mobile technology and MyPEEPS, an existing theory-driven, multi-ethnic,
group-level, evidence-based intervention for diverse YMSM. MyPEEPS is a manualized
curriculum, comprised of 6 modules focusing on key intermediate social and personal factors,
including knowledge (e.g., correct way to use a condom), self-efficacy for safer sex,
interpersonal communication skills and behavioral skills. MyPEEPS is one of the only HIV
prevention interventions in the literature that focuses on diverse adolescent MSM. Long-term
sustainability of face-to face, group-level behavioral interventions, such as MyPEEPS, have
been problematic for dissemination in at-risk populations, particularly among young racial
and ethnic minority groups. In response to this challenge, the investigators propose to
translate MyPEEPS from a face-to-face, group-based curriculum to a mobile, responsive-driven
web-based platform, accessible by smartphone or other web-enabled devices, to increase
accessibility and scalability for diverse YMSM. The ubiquitous nature of mobile phones in
daily life, especially among 13-18 year olds, has created opportunities for health
interventions in a portable format with enhanced privacy. Using a participatory approach,
this study will incorporate user-centered design in the translation of the MyPEEPS
intervention onto a mobile platform.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Self-identify as male

- Male sex assigned at birth

- Understand and read English

- Live in the United States

- Own a smartphone

- Same-sex attraction and either kissed another guy or intending to engage in sexual
activity with another guy in next year

- Self-report HIV-negative or unknown status

Exclusion Criteria:

- HIV+

We found this trial at

sites

Lurie Children's Hospital

Chicago, Illinois 60611

Principal Investigator: Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH

Phone: 773-303-6058

from

Chicago, IL