# Increasing PrEP Use in High-Risk Social Networks of African American MSM in Underserved Low-Uptake Cities

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN · 2020 · $99,975

## Abstract

Abstract
 Transgender women—especially racial minority transgender women—have HIV prevalence that is far
higher than any other population segment in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of transgender women meet
CDC criteria for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) indication but only 5% report ever taking PrEP. Most prior
HIV prevention research has lumped together transgender women in a single category with men who have sex
with men (MSM) even though these sexual and gender minority (SGM) groups may face different life
challenges and have very different needs. Except for a handful of small focus group studies conducted in large
cities on the East and West coasts, very little research has systematically explored factors responsible for low
PrEP use among transgender women at high risk for contacting HIV infection and identified ways to increase
PrEP adoption and sustained use. This proposal—submitted in response to Notice OD-20-032—requests an
SGM administrative supplement to add a sample of racial minority transgender women to parent grant R01-
NR017574, a project that tests approaches to increase PrEP use among African American MSM in Milwaukee
and Cleveland, both Midwestern cities with stark HIV disparities. The supplement will employ a mixed-methods
research design with 60 high-risk racial minority transgender women recruited from the community who will be
added to the parent grant. During study visits, each woman will participate in a semi-structured in-depth
interview to elicit perceptions, understandings, and beliefs about PrEP; concerns and barriers to PrEP use;
factors that would facilitate the adoption and sustained use of PrEP; and preferences about PrEP delivery
modalities and service access. Interviews will delve into how PrEP can be presented to transgender women in
ways that affirm a positive, healthful, and proud sense of gender identity that counteracts the deleterious
influence of intersectional stigma. In-depth interviews will be recorded, transcribed, coded, and qualitatively
analyzed to identify how best to optimize and tailor interventions to reach and benefit the HIV prevention and
health needs of transgender women. Participants will also be administered measures that are being employed
in the parent grant to assess HIV testing and health history, sexual practices, substance use, and PrEP use
knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions, norm perceptions, and self-efficacy, as well as a measure of
gender minority stress and resilience validated with transgender and gender nonconforming persons. These
quantitative data will be analyzed to identify whether—and how—the HIV prevention needs of racial minority
transgender women differ from those of racial minority MSM as well as factors that facilitate or impede PrEP
use among transgender women. Findings of this research will improve the field’s understanding of HIV health
needs of transgender minority women—a vulnerable, understudied, and underserved SGM community
population—and wil...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10090689
- **Project number:** 3R01NR017574-04S2
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Yuri A Amirkhanian
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $99,975
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-21 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10090689

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10090689, Increasing PrEP Use in High-Risk Social Networks of African American MSM in Underserved Low-Uptake Cities (3R01NR017574-04S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10090689. Licensed CC0.

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