# Engaging Seronegative Youth to Optimize HIV Prevention Continuum

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $200,503

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Young people at highest risk for HIV in the U.S. will be gay, bisexual transgender youth (GBTY) and
homeless youth (HY) in communities with high HIV incidence and overwhelmingly Black and Latino. Focusing
on Los Angeles and New Orleans, seronegative youth at highest risk for HIV will be screened in homeless
shelters and gay-identified community-based organizations (CBO). A cohort of 1500 seronegative youth will be
recruited that is 82% male (79% GBTY), 66% Black, 16% Latino, and 18% white, non-Hispanic. About 27% will
be 12-17 and 73% between 18-24 years old. All youth will be followed longitudinally over 24 months at four
month intervals and tested for HIV, STI, serious substance abuse, health care utilization, and comorbid
conditions – a Prototypical Retention/Prevention (R/P) Strategy. Over 24 months, acutely HIV infected youth
will be triaged to Study 1. This Prototypical R/P Strategy operationalizes the CDC's recommendations for the
engagement of GBTY in repeat HIV testing, linkage to care, and options for combination prevention (PrEP,
PEP – with behavioral interventions).
 Building on this team's extensive experience with behavioral and mobile/social media interventions, a
randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted with four intervention conditions: 1) an Automated
Messaging and Monitoring Intervention (AMMI), which will use texts to diffuse prevention messages daily and
to monitor risk behaviors weekly (n=900); 2) a Peer Support intervention on a social media platform (i.e.,
Facebook) in which young people will post messages and stories about their experiences preventing HIV, plus
the AMMI (n=200); 3) an eNavigator intervention in which a B.A.-level staff supports youth, primarily through
texting and social media, but also in-person meetings, to provide support in crisis situations, refer to treatment,
and assist in gaining access to health care and other services, plus Peer Support and AMMI (n=200); and, 4) a
combined intervention of eNavigator, Peer Support, and AMMI (n=200). A single outcome will be composed of
six key behaviors (access to medical care, accessing and adherence to PrEP or PEP, treatment of all STI, and
100% condom use). In addition to evaluating the added benefit of increasing levels of intervention, the brief 7-
item weekly text-messaging monitoring surveys will provide approximately 100,000 weekly reports of indicators
of primary and secondary outcomes that can inform our understandings about the relationships between risk
and comorbid states. This study will have policy implications for the allocation of resources to HIV testing
resources in local communities, the uptake and scalability of text and social media interventions, and the
models for diffusing evidence-based interventions (EBI) globally (without requiring replication with fidelity to a
manual).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9964868
- **Project number:** 5U19HD089886-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Dallas Travis Swendeman
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $200,503
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9964868

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9964868, Engaging Seronegative Youth to Optimize HIV Prevention Continuum (5U19HD089886-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9964868. Licensed CC0.

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