Project Nexus: Providing Online Counseling for Home-Based HIV Testing

Process and use of communal coping - Couple Efficacy to Reduce HIV Threat

时间窗: 6 months

Based on Lewis's model Couple's Interdependence Theory, we will measure process and use of communal coping or how couples work together and make decisions together to reduce the health threat. Couple efficacy is defined as a couple's confidence that together they can engage in communal coping efforts. We developed three subscales in parallel to Outcome Efficacy to Reduce HIV Threat Scale: Joint Effort, Communication, and Planning and Decision-making.

Process and use of communal coping - Communal Coping to Reduce HIV Threat

时间窗: 6 months

Based on Lewis's model Couple's Interdependence Theory, we will measure process and use of communal coping or how couples work together and make decisions together to reduce the health threat. Scale: We developed three subscales in parallel to the Outcome Efficacy Scale and the Couple Efficacy Scale: Joint Effort, Communication, and Planning and Decision-making. All three subscales used the same six items from these other scales to capture the managing of reducing the health threat of HIV, but the stems were different.

Changes in Sexual Behavior

时间窗: 6 months

We measure changes in sexual behavior using behavioral measures adapted from the NHBS behavioral inventory and previously used with thousands of MSM by our team will collect information both on sexual behaviors with the main sex partner in the 3 months before the interview, and on sexual behaviors with all sex partners outside the relationship. For sex with the main partner, men will be asked to estimate the number of anal sex acts with the main partner, and the number of those acts that were condom-protected. For outside the relationship, we will ask a series of questions about each outside partner, including HIV status of that partner (if known), whether the sex outside the relationship was disclosed to the main partner, the number and type of sex acts with each outside partner, and the proportion of those sex acts that were protected by condoms.

Process and use of communal coping - Outcome Efficacy to Reduce HIV Threat

时间窗: 6 months

Based on Lewis's model Couple's Interdependence Theory, we will measure process and use of communal coping or how couples work together and make decisions together to reduce the health threat. We created three subscales to capture the full range of outcome efficacy related to these three processes of communal coping. For the first subscale, Joint Effort, we used the stem, "My partner and I believe that 'working together' versus on our own is an effective strategy;" for the second subscale, Communication, we used the stem, "Communicating with my partner is an effective strategy for;" and for the third subscale, Planning and Decision-making, we used the stem, "My partner and I making decisions together rather than separately is an effective strategy." The items for each of the three subscales were the same as the items used for the Preference for Sexual Health Outcomes scale.

Changes in Sexual Agreements

时间窗: 6 months

We measure changes in sexual agreements using questions from previous studies of MSM couples' sexual agreements. Participants will be asked which of the following best describes their current sexual agreement with their main partner: "both of us cannot have sex with outside partners," "we can have sex with outside partners, without any conditions or restrictions," "we can have sex with outside partners, but with conditions or restrictions," and "we do not have an agreement." Additional items about agreements will further assess whether couples permitted (or did not permit) that certain sexual behaviors, namely UAI and oral sex, could occur with outside partners. In follow-up surveys, participants will be asked whether their agreement changed, and if so, to re-categorize their agreement type.