Mobile Messaging Intervention to Present New HIV Prevention Options for MSM

The summary for the Mobile Messaging Intervention to Present New HIV Prevention Options for MSM grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Mobile Messaging Intervention to Present New HIV Prevention Options for MSM: CDC announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2015 funds for a cooperative agreement funding opportunity announcement titled “Mobile Messaging Intervention to Present New HIV Prevention Options for MSM” to develop and systematically evaluate a brief mobile messaging HIV prevention intervention for reducing HIV-related risk behaviors among HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM).
Sexual risk behavior among MSM in the U.S. increased from 2005-2011 among subgroups of men who have sex with men (MSM), a group already disproportionally affected by HIV (1). At the same time, messaging on the range and complexity of HIV risk reduction options is becoming increasingly challenging. New information about prevention options continues to emerge from the scientific community and this information must be translated clearly and concisely to populations at highest risk for HIV infection, such as MSM. New and complex scientific information about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), condom efficacy during anal sex, ART adherence benefit for non-infected partners, and lack of HIV testing among some MSM, and other prevention-relevant information, needs to be combined to present multi-component messaging in effective ways to 1) HIV-positive MSM, 2) high-risk HIV-negative MSM (i.e., self-reported recent anal sex without condoms with a non-primary partner or an HIV serodiscordant primary partner) and 3) lower-risk HIV-negative MSM (i.e., no self-reported recent anal sex without condoms with a non-primary partner or an HIV serodiscordant primary partner). Importantly, these three target groups are distinct from each other with respect to the prevention messages that will be most appropriate for them. For example, ART medication adherence is important for HIV-positive MSM, and PrEP/PEP are viable HIV prevention methods for high-risk HIV-negative MSM but not lower-risk MSM. Research has demonstrated that mobile messaging is a promising approach to brief intervention messaging for HIV risk reduction strategies and medication adherence in MSM target groups.

The purpose of this FOA is to develop and test a brief mobile messaging (e.g., texting, App) HIV prevention intervention for sexually-active (i.e., had sex with a man in the prior 12 months) gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and will consist of multi-component messages about new and emerging HIV risk-reduction information delivered over a three-month period of time. Proposed messaging content, format, frequency, and delivery should reflect the state of the scientific literature at the time of application submission. The FOA study will consist of formative research and experimental Randomized Control Trial (RCT) phases conducted in three geographically diverse United States (US) cities with high HIV incidence or diagnoses, including one, but no more than one, city located in the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia). The 2-arm RCT will include randomization of participants to intervention or delayed intervention arms. Assessments will occur at baseline, and three and six-month post-intervention time points.