# Mobile Combined Alcohol and HIV Prevention Including PrEP Uptake/Adherence for High-Risk Young Men

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2021 · $1

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The rate of new HIV infections remains unacceptable, particularly in Florida and among men who have sex
with men (MSM). Black and Hispanic/Latino, as well as young adult MSM are at particularly high risk, due in
part to overlapping risk behaviors like heavy drinking. Alcohol use increases unprotected sex and reduces
treatment adherence, making combined alcohol and risky sex prevention optimal. New preventive efforts for
HIV and alcohol are a high priority area for NIAAA and must be targeted to these highest-risk groups. The goal
of this UH2/UH3 project is to develop and test initially a synergistic, mobile intervention that will reduce alcohol
use and risky sex and prevent HIV infection among the highest-risk individuals. The proposed intervention
combines brief motivational intervention; daily monitoring via interactive voice response (IVR) with
personalized feedback; and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Combining them offers the strengths of all 3
while compensating for limitations of each, yielding a combined intervention with great potential impact. Based
on theory and prior evidence, we hypothesize that this combined preventive intervention will be associated with
greater alcohol use reduction and medication adherence than a standardized educational control condition.
This project is innovative in that this combination of 3 efficacious interventions has not been tested to reduce
alcohol use and HIV risk. Further, there are no established interventions to enhance PrEP uptake/adherence
and no studies have provided intervention targeting both alcohol and PrEP uptake/adherence. In the UH2
phase, we will recruit MSM ages 18-30 who report HIV-negative status for a web survey (N=683) to yield
normative data for the personalized feedback intervention component and focus groups (N=30) to provide
input on the initial version of the intervention. Based on the web survey and focus groups, the intervention will
be modified and tested in a preliminary usability study (N=10) to prepare for the UH3 phase. Completing each
benchmark of the UH2 phase indicates feasibility of the UH3 intervention study. For the UH3 phase, we will
recruit higher-risk MSM (N=80) for a 30-day study to test the combined mobile alcohol and HIV preventive
intervention. All participants will receive open-label PrEP and complete a 5-minute daily IVR assessment of
alcohol/substance use, sexual behavior and PrEP taking. Participants randomized to intervention will get brief
web-based alcohol and HIV prevention followed by IVR monitoring including personalized feedback. The web-
based component is designed to increase risk perception and motivation to change while the IVR component
will enhance PrEP adherence and bolster risk perception and motivation further. Participants randomized to
control will get standardized education, not personalized intervention, and give IVR responses for assessment
purposes only with no feedback. Follow-up will occur at the end of the 30-day i...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10242805
- **Project number:** 5UH3AA026214-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert F. Leeman
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-08-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10242805

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10242805, Mobile Combined Alcohol and HIV Prevention Including PrEP Uptake/Adherence for High-Risk Young Men (5UH3AA026214-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10242805. Licensed CC0.

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