Internet-Based HIV Prevention for Students at Historically Black Colleges (K23)

描述（由申请人提供）：候选人是北卡罗来纳州大学的医学助理教授。她在内科和传染病委员会认证。她对艾滋病毒预防和行为改变干预特别感兴趣。她的职业目标是成为一名富有成效的独立学术研究者，能够运用严格的研究方法来设计和实施艾滋病毒预防干预措施。Hightow博士提出了教程和正式的教学法，指导研究和专业发展活动，以帮助她获得必要的方法学专业知识和技能，作为一名独立的研究者脱颖而出，并在艾滋病毒预防方面发展临床研究重点。北卡罗来纳州大学传染病部在进行成功的临床HIV研究方面有着既定的记录。Inflexxion，Inc位于马萨诸塞州牛顿市，在开发用于大学生群体的医疗保健干预网站方面拥有丰富的专业知识。一个富有成效和成功的研究人员团队将指导海托博士在她的研究和职业发展。该团队在艾滋病毒风险和预防（Adimora，Kaplan和Leone博士），定性方法和行为理论（Ribisl，Ross，Malebranche和Tate博士）以及互联网干预设计和评估（Ribisl，Lord，Ross和Tate博士）方面有着坚实的基础。尽管有证据表明，与男性发生性关系的黑人（BMSM）大学生面临着令人不安的艾滋病毒感染风险水平，但对文献的广泛回顾未能揭示一个专门为BMSM大学生设计的经验评估干预措施。使用互联网提供治疗和干预措施已被证明是可以接受的男男性行为者和大学生的各种健康状况和危险行为。此外，互联网在确定和会见性伴侣方面发挥着越来越重要的作用，特别是对男男性行为者来说。本提案的研究目的是：（1）通过使用深入的个人访谈和焦点小组相结合的方式来描述BMSM学生对艾滋病毒和艾滋病预防的需求和看法，（2）分析在AIM 1中描述的形成性研究期间收集的定性数据，以修改Inflexxion设计的现有干预措施，以开发一个独特的文化能力，基于网络的互联网预防网站，和（3）在位于罗利-达勒姆大都会区的4所大学对干预网站进行试点研究，以从两个方面评估网站：（1）进行未来临床试验的可行性;（2）最终用户满意度。一个成功的互联网干预BMSM大学生将有巨大的优势，包括方便的便携性，在全国任何大学使用。总而言之，基于互联网的干预措施有可能影响到那些本来不会寻求医疗保健或成为预防活动目标的高危人群。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Candidate is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She has a special interest in HIV prevention and behavior change interventions. Her career goals are to become a productive independent academic investigator who can apply rigorous research methods to design and implement HIV prevention interventions. Dr. Hightow proposes tutorials and formal didactics, mentored research, and professional development activities to help her obtain the necessary methodological expertise and skills to excel as an independent investigator and develop a clinical research focus in HIV prevention. The University of North Carolina, Infectious Diseases Division has an established record of conducting successful clinical HIV research. Inflexxion, Inc located in Newton, Massachusetts has extensive expertise in the development of health care intervention websites for use in college student populations. A team of productive and successful researchers will guide Dr. Hightow in her research and career development. This team has a strong foundation in HIV risk and prevention (Drs. Adimora, Kaplan and Leone), qualitative methods and behavioral theory (Drs. Ribisl, Ross, Malebranche and Tate) and Internet intervention design and evaluation (Drs. Ribisl, Lord, Ross and Tate). Despite the evidence that Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) college students face troubling levels of risk for HIV infection, an extensive review of the literature failed to reveal a single empirically evaluated intervention designed specifically for BMSM college students. Use of the Internet to provide treatment and interventions has been shown to be acceptable to MSM and college students for a variety of health conditions and risk behaviors. In addition, the Internet is playing a more important role for identifying and meeting sex partners, particularly for MSM. The research study aims for this proposal are: (1) To characterize BMSM students' needs and perceptions regarding HIV and AIDS prevention by using a combination of in-depth individual interviews and focus groups, (2) to analyze the qualitative data gathered during the formative studies described in AIM 1 to modify an existing intervention designed by Inflexxion to develop a unique culturally competent, web-based Internet prevention site, and (3) to conduct pilot studies of the intervention web site at 4 Universities located in the Raleigh-Durham Metropolitan Area to evaluate the website in two areas (1) feasibility for conducting a future clinical trial; and (2) end-user satisfaction. A successful Internet intervention for BMSM college students will have enormous advantages including easy portability for use on any college nationwide. In summary, an Internet based intervention has the potential to reach an at-risk segment of the population that would not otherwise seek health care or be targeted for prevention activities.