# Preparing for Implementation of the ATN CARES Evidence-Based Intervention Package for PrEP Uptake and Syndemic Factors among Youth

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2023 · $235,232

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
America’s increasing HIV epidemic among youth aged 12-24 and our concurrent failure to
identify, link to care, sustain support services and achieve viral suppression among youth living
with HIV suggests the need to scale-up and sustain community-based strategies to leverage
gateways and settings where high risk and infected youth can be engaged in HIV prevention
and treatment. Sexual and gender minority and racial/ethnic minority youth in the U.S. are at
disproportionate risk of acquiring HIV due to syndemic factors and low PrEP uptake, yet
effective and scalable interventions for youths remain limited. This study will accelerate the
implementation of Adolescent HIV Medicine Trials Network (ATN) Protocol 149 Optimizing the
HIV Prevention Continuum for Youth intervention package that was developed to be responsive
to the needs and preferences of implementers and youth. This study proposes to develop with
community partners implementation support strategies to prepare for a hybrid type-2
effectiveness-implementation study to test implementation strategies and validate intervention
effectiveness in a real-world replication study.
 Phase 1 Qualitative Interviews and Networking. Interested parties (stakeholders) from
Southern California public health and frontline HIV prevention organizations will be interviewed,
including agency leaders (n=10) and frontline prevention workers (n=30). The Consolidated
Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) will guide semi-structured interviews and rapid
qualitative data analyses for exploring qualitatively the barriers, facilitators, preferences, and
opportunities for implementation of the ATN 149 interventions for two primary strategies: 1)
agency staff training and delivery by frontline workers; or 2) direct-to-youth delivery by dedicated
program staff with reciprocal agency linkages.
 Phase 2: Intervention Package Update & Type 2 Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness
Trial Preparation: Phase 1 will inform a plan for updating and adapting the intervention
package based on one or both implementation strategies. Implementing partners from Phase 1
will be engaged in collaboratively adapting and updating protocols, training materials, text-
message libraries, peer support forum, and the mobile-web intervention management system
for text-messaging and coaching implementation support.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10818271
- **Project number:** 3P30MH058107-27S3
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Steven J Shoptaw
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $235,232
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10818271

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10818271, Preparing for Implementation of the ATN CARES Evidence-Based Intervention Package for PrEP Uptake and Syndemic Factors among Youth (3P30MH058107-27S3). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10818271. Licensed CC0.

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