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

描述（由申请人提供）：候选人是北卡罗莱纳大学医学助理教授。她在内科和传染病方面获得了董事会认证。她对艾滋病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，能够应用严谨的研究方法来设计和实施艾滋病预防干预措施。Hightow博士提出教程和正式教学，指导研究和专业发展活动，以帮助她获得必要的方法专业知识和技能，成为独立研究者，并在艾滋病毒预防方面发展临床研究重点。北卡罗来纳大学传染病科在开展成功的HIV临床研究方面有着良好的记录。inflexion公司位于马萨诸塞州牛顿市，在为大学生群体开发医疗保健干预网站方面拥有广泛的专业知识。一组富有成效和成功的研究人员将指导Hightow博士的研究和职业发展。该小组在艾滋病毒风险和预防方面有着坚实的基础。Adimora， Kaplan和Leone)，定性方法和行为理论(dr。Ribisl, Ross， Malebranche和Tate)和互联网干预设计和评估(dr。Ribisl, Lord, Ross and Tate)。尽管有证据表明，与男性发生性关系的黑人大学生（BMSM）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大学生设计的经验性评估干预措施。利用互联网提供治疗和干预已被证明是男同性恋者和大学生对各种健康状况和危险行为的可接受的。此外，互联网在识别和会见性伴侣方面发挥着更重要的作用，尤其是对男同性恋者而言。本课题的研究目的是：(1)通过深度个人访谈和焦点小组的结合来描述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中收集的定性数据，以修改inflexion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；(3)在罗利-达勒姆大都会区的4所大学对干预网站进行试点研究，从两个方面评估该网站(1)进行未来临床试验的可行性；(2)终端用户满意度。一个成功的针对BMSM大学生的互联网干预将具有巨大的优势，包括易于携带，可以在全国任何一所大学使用。总而言之，基于互联网的干预措施有可能触及人口中的高危人群，否则他们不会寻求保健或成为预防活动的目标。

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.