Strategies for Identifying African American MSM Unaware of Their HIV Status

描述(由申请人提供)：本项目的目的是评估不同策略在识别不知道自己状况的高危非裔美国男子(MSM)的有效性，并将他们带到咨询、检测和转介服务中。这些目标直接符合疾控中心2003年发起的“推进艾滋病毒预防：应对不断变化的流行病的新战略”倡议中描述的目标，该倡议旨在减少艾滋病毒早期诊断的障碍，并增加获得高质量医疗保健、治疗和持续预防服务的机会。 该项目的具体目的是评估目前在我们帮助我们的合作伙伴咨询和转介服务(PCRS)活动的活动，华盛顿特区的People Into Living，Inc.(这项工作的社区合作伙伴)，实施和评估新的社交网络和替代地点测试战略，并比较这些战略在接触目标人群方面的有效性。将使用形成性研究来指导社交网络和替代场地测试战略的发展，以确保这些改进的方法在社区内是适当和可行的。该项目还将与我们合作，帮助我们重新设计他们目前的数据收集方法，以便收集能够最清楚和准确地回应研究目标的信息。 这项研究与公共卫生有关，因为总体上未诊断的艾滋病毒感染，特别是非裔美国男男性接触者，仍然是一个重要的问题。及早了解艾滋病毒状况对于获得适当和有效的医疗服务，包括抗逆转录病毒疗法至关重要。此外，对艾滋病毒感染的认识可以减少艾滋病毒的传播，这样做对艾滋病毒预防工作至关重要。这项研究通过评估三种不同策略--伴侣咨询和转介服务(PCRS)、社交网络和替代场所测试--在识别与男性性行为(MSM)有风险的非洲裔美国男性(MSM)并不知道他们的艾滋病毒状况方面的有效性，为公共卫生领域做出了贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to assess the effectiveness of different strategies in identifying at-risk African American Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) who are unaware of their status and bringing them into Counseling, Testing, and Referral Services. These objectives directly meet the goal delineated in CDC's 'Advancing HIV Prevention: New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic" initiative, launched in 2003, to reduce barriers to early diagnosis of HIV and to increase access to quality medical care, treatment, and ongoing Prevention services. The specific aims of this project are to evaluate the activities of the current Partner Counseling and Referral Services (PCRS) activities at Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. in Washington, DC (the community- based partner for this work), implement and evaluate new social network and alternate venue testing strategies, and compare these strategies' effectiveness in reaching the target population. Formative research will be used to guide the development of the social network and alternate venue testing strategies in order to ensure that these enhanced approaches are appropriate and feasible within the community. This project will also work with Us Helping Us to redesign their current data collection methods in order to gather information that can most clearly and accurately respond to the study aims. This research is relevant to public health in that undiagnosed HIV infection in general, and among African American MSM in particular, remains a significant issue. Early knowledge of HIV status is critical to accessing appropriate and effective medical services, including antiretroviral therapies. In addition, awareness of HIV infection can reduce transmission of HIV, and by doing so, is critical to HIV prevention efforts. This research contributes to the field of public health by assessing the effectiveness of three different strategies -- Partner Counseling and Referral Services (PCRS), social networks, and alternate venue testing -- in identifying at-risk African American Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) who are unaware of their HIV status.