This project will adapt and pilot a multi-level, community-based intervention to promote HIV prevention and sexual health among young men who have sex with men in Beirut.
Mpowerment (MP) is an evidence-based community-level, structural, social and behavioral intervention for HIV prevention developed for YMSM that targets individual and community empowerment and mobilization, self-affirmation, sexual self-knowledge, and creation of a supportive social environment. MP has been widely used in the U.S., but not in a mostly Muslim setting. This project will adapt and pilot MP for the sociocultural issues facing YMSM (age 18-29) in Beirut. There will be a 2-year pilot implementation of MP, with longitudinal cohorts of YMSM in Beirut and Jounieh, the latter being the control community. Primary outcomes will be unprotected anal sex and HIV testing, with secondary outcomes being engagement in peer outreach, and perceived peer norms related to condom use and HIV testing.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
226
MP is a multi-level intervention that reaches out to all YMSM in a community by mobilizing men to encourage their friends to reduce risk behavior and join the program (informal outreach), along with holding social activities that promote safe sex (formal outreach). MP provides YMSM with skills, support and confidence to find solutions within themselves for sexual health, and seeks to affirm the validity and rights of same-sex behavior and identities.
condomless anal sex
condomless anal sex with HIV+ or unknown status partners in past 3 months will be assessed via questionnaire
Time frame: past 3 months
HIV testing
Variable will be assessed via questionnaire
Time frame: past 6 months
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