# Y2Prevent: Preventing Drug Use and HIV through Empowerment, Social Support and Mentorship

> **NIH NIH R34** · CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $253,220

## Abstract

ABSTRACT African Americans represent only 14% of the population, but account for 44% of all new HIV
infections reported yearly. The situation is particularly grave for Black/African American young men who have
sex with men (AAYMSM), with seroprevalence rates of 19% for ages 15-22 and 26% for ages 23-29 among
AAYMSM. These health outcomes are influenced by important social and structural factors, including violence
and victimization, homophobia, discrimination, institutional racism, and economic and social marginalization.
These experiences are significantly associated with illicit drug use, alcohol misuse, transactional sex work, and
HIV risk behaviors. In response to this crisis, we are proposing to create a new theoretically driven, youth-
centered intervention designed to build the capacity of AAYMSM to overcome these barriers to health. With
this revised R34 application, we propose to further refine and pilot test an intervention, called Young Men's
Adult Identity Mentoring (YM-AIM). Adapted from an existing CDC Diffusing Effective Behavioral Intervention,
YM-AIM is a theory-driven, group-level intervention designed to help AAYMSM develop a healthy vision for
their future (or “possible future self”) by defining a set of short- and long-term goals in the areas of education,
health, family and intimate relationships. We propose to further strengthen and refine YM-AIM by adding a
youth mentoring/support component, called Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM). YIM uses a positive youth
development framework to: a) build social capital to achieve immediate and long-term goals, b) build social
support, c) identify and engage natural mentors in one's networks to address structural barriers, and d)
develop relationships with supportive adults. We will integrate these two models into a single intervention
called Y2Prevent. We will then work to further adapt, tailor, and evaluate Y2Prevent as an intervention to
reduce illicit drug use and HIV/STI risk among AAYMSM. This intervention will emphasize: a) biomedical HIV
prevention strategies for primary prevention, b) HIV/STI testing and treatment referral, c) drug screening and
treatment referral, and d) positive youth development and future planning. We will conduct formative research
to inform the adaptation/tailoring followed by a piloting of the new intervention to assess the feasibility,
acceptability, and the preliminary efficacy. Our proposed positive youth development and resilience theory
provide a strong, innovative framework for examining how AAYMSM with significant exposure to syndemic
health and social disparities respond to engagement with prevention and treatment resources. The proposed
intervention is intended to promote resilience, build social skills and assets among AAYMSM to help them
recognize and overcome individual, social and structural barriers leading to risk, and adopt and maintain
protective behaviors, such as safer sex, PrEP/PEP use, HIV/STI testing and healthcare utilization. The
f...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9973159
- **Project number:** 5R34DA044106-03
- **Recipient organization:** CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Michele D. Kipke
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $253,220
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9973159

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9973159, Y2Prevent: Preventing Drug Use and HIV through Empowerment, Social Support and Mentorship (5R34DA044106-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9973159. Licensed CC0.

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