# Onboarding Positives and PrEP users to Engage Negatives (OPPEN): peer-driven education to link YMSM of color to PrEP

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2022 · $237,000

## Abstract

100.7 PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake has been slow among young men who have sex with men (YMSM),
particularly those of color who experience a high rate of new HIV infections in the United States. Limited PrEP
knowledge, unfamiliarity with how to access PrEP, medical mistrust, and stigma around HIV and sexuality are
barriers to PrEP care engagement among YMSM, including those of color. Peer-driven social network
interventions that train individuals as peer educators to disseminate information about HIV prevention and
treatment within their social networks have been implemented to address similar barriers and improve HIV
outcomes within hard to reach populations. YMSM of color engaged in HIV/PrEP care often employ resilience
processes to overcome socio-structural barriers to HIV prevention and care. As such, training YMSM of color
engaged in HIV/PrEP care as peer PrEP educators may position them as credible sources of PrEP information
who can influence behavior change (i.e., PrEP care engagement) among YMSM peers of color within their
social networks via their ability to disseminate culturally competent PrEP messages in the context of their
personal experiences using these resilience processes to navigate the healthcare system, medical mistrust,
and stigma. Drawing on existing peer-driven social network interventions, the diffusion of innovations and
information-motivation-behavioral skills models, Harper et al.'s resilience framework, as well as data from our
recent focus groups, the proposed R34 will develop and pilot Onboarding Positives and PrEP users to Engage
Negatives (OPPEN), a peer-driven PrEP education social network intervention, among YMSM of color (Latino
or Black) in San Diego, California. Through three small-group and two one-on-one sessions, OPPEN will train
YMSM of color engaged in HIV/PrEP care to be peer PrEP educators within their social networks. In Phase I,
OPPEN will be developed, pretested, and refined using an iterative process that integrates feedback from
YMSM of color and interviews with HIV-positive and PrEP-using YMSM of color trained via OPPEN and YMSM
peers of color within their social networks (AIM 1). In Phase II, OPPEN will be piloted in a randomized
controlled trial with 70 YMSM of color engaged in HIV/PrEP care (i.e., indexes; 50% HIV-positive) randomly
assigned to OPPEN (n=35) or a time- and attention-matched control condition (n=35). All indexes will receive
coupons to recruit YMSM peers of color within their social networks to the study. Peers who present at the
study site (i.e., peer-recruits) will undergo HIV testing. HIV-negative peer-recruits interested in PrEP will be
scheduled for a PrEP clinic visit. Data collected via surveys (baseline and 3-month study visits) and medical
records will be used to evaluate the preliminary effect of OPPEN on PrEP interest, linkage, and uptake among
peer-recruits (AIM 2) and theory-based mechanisms targeted by OPPEN among indexes and peer...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10474455
- **Project number:** 5R34MH121234-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Heather Alisa Pines
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $237,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10474455

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10474455, Onboarding Positives and PrEP users to Engage Negatives (OPPEN): peer-driven education to link YMSM of color to PrEP (5R34MH121234-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10474455. Licensed CC0.

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