Addressing Intersectional Stigma Through Coping, Resistance, and Resilience to Improve Methamphetamine Use and Factors Influencing PrEP Uptake Among Latino MSM: a Step Towards Ending HIV by 2030

This is a clinical trial research experience to support Dr. Angel B Algarin's training. Findings from secondary analyses from AIMs 1 & 2 will guide the selection and adaptation of evidence-based, multi-level coping resistance and resilience intervention strategies to reduce the harmful effects of intersectional stigma on meth use and PrEP cascade progression.

Resistance: I plan to adapt Community Wise which is a 12-week multi-level, group intervention that moves participants from a cycle of oppression, feelings of powerlessness, and health risk behaviors to a cycle of empowerment, self-efficacy, and health promoting behaviors. The intervention was found to be effective in reducing recent substance use.

Coping: I plan to integrate effective components of the Effective Skills to Empower Effective Men (ESTEEM) study which utilizes a cognitive based therapy (CBT) approach to enhance stigma coping among MSM and has been found effective in reducing drug use and sexual risk behaviors.

Resilience: I plan to integrate resilience intervention strategies from the HealthMpowerment study which is grounded in the Institute of Medicine's Integrated Model of Behavior Theory and has been shown to reduce sexual risk behaviors and stigma among MSM.

The eMPrISe study will be developed using the ADAPT-ITT (Assessment, Decision, Adaptation, Production, Topical experts, Integration, Training, Testing) model and will be formatively evaluated among n=20 Latino MSM (10 English speaking & 10 Spanish speaking) with moderate meth use risk scores determined by Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). Quantitative data will be collected via Qualtrics and Network Canvas for a 60-minute interviewer driven survey pre- and post-evaluation of adapted intervention, and for 10-minute self-administered questionnaires following each of the 12 modules. Qualitative data will be collected via audio recordings of participants' real time responses as they progress through the intervention to assess feasibility of the 12 weekly modules. Quantitative results will also inform semi-structured focus groups (1 English, 1 Spanish) to contextualize the acceptability of each of the 12 intervention modules and the intervention as a whole. While the formative evaluation will assess trends, it is not powered to detect pre-post changes in these measures.