# A family-based intervention to improve HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake for adolescent sexual minority males

> **NIH NIH K23** · RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL · 2021 · $169,045

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Dr. Rusley is pursuing this K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award to facilitate his
transition to an independent HIV prevention scientist. His career goal is to eliminate health disparities among
adolescents and young adults at risk for HIV. He has a background in pediatric and adolescent medicine, clinical
research, public health, and motivational interviewing (MI) that create a strong foundation for the proposed training and
research plan. He has assembled a highly accomplished and diverse team of mentors with complementary expertise in
adolescent sexual minority male (ASMM) health, HIV prevention including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), behavioral
interventions, family-based interventions, implementation science, and ethical issues in adolescent sexuality research.
These mentors, along with an excellent and highly-interdisciplinary research environment at Brown University and
Rhode Island Hospital will facilitate his training and research plan, as well as his transition to an independent, NIH-
funded researcher. Given the disproportionate burden of HIV borne by sexual minority males in the US—especially
young men—and the fact that most of these men have their first sexual experience as adolescents, ASMM are a key
population for HIV prevention interventions. However, there are very few evidence-based HIV prevention interventions
for this group, in part due to complexities with parental involvement in research. Many experts have called for inclusion
of parents in HIV prevention interventions for ASMM, given the key protective roles they can play in their children’s
lives; yet there are no family-based HIV prevention interventions for ASMM in the US. PrEP is a highly effective HIV
prevention tool that has recently been added to the existing HIV prevention toolkit with FDA approval for adolescents in
2018, yet uptake among ASMM has been low. The few studies that address this gap in PrEP uptake among ASMM
suggest possible barriers may include: concerns about disclosure of sexuality to parents (“outing”), knowledge of and
motivation to use PrEP, and lack of access to primary care clinicians who prescribe PrEP. Therefore, we will develop a
family-based HIV prevention intervention for ASMM that can be used in primary care settings. First, we will conduct a
formative evaluation using in-depth individual interviews with ASMM (n=12-15) and parents (n=12-15) to determine
barriers and facilitators to the success of the planned intervention (Specific Aim (SA) 1). Second, we will adapt an
existing evidenced-based, motivational interviewing (MI) intervention to include PrEP education and counseling, as well
as a family-based component (a video-based education module about parental support, sexuality communication, and
PrEP as HIV prevention). We will then pilot the intervention with ASMM-parent dyads (n=10) (SA2). Finally, we will
conduct an exploratory randomized trial of the intervention with ASMM-parent ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10142540
- **Project number:** 5K23MH123335-02
- **Recipient organization:** RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Jack Rusley
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $169,045
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10142540

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10142540, A family-based intervention to improve HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake for adolescent sexual minority males (5K23MH123335-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10142540. Licensed CC0.

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