Black Sexual Minority Men’s Experiences in MPowerment Interventions: Implications for HIV Prevention

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Int J Behav Med
• Personal Author:
  Turpin, Rodman E. ; Camp, Aaron D. ; Mandell, C.J. ; Mhonde, Rochelle R. Davidson ; Dyer, Typhanye V. ; Mayer, Kenneth H. ; Liu, Hongjie ; Coates, Thomas ; Boekeloo, Bradley
• Description:
  Background
  
  Black sexual minority men (BSMM) are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV acquisition; the MPowerment model is one community-based framework for preventing HIV in this population. It focuses on developing a supportive network of peers to promote health messaging, reduce stigma, and improve resilience. While these interventions have demonstrated general success, there are important challenges related to race, sexuality, and internalized stigma. Our study aimed to explore these experiences among BSMM in MPowerment models focused on HIV prevention.
  
  Method
  
  We conducted 24 qualitative interviews of BSMM attending HIV prevention–related MPowerment events in the greater D.C. Metropolitan area. In-depth interviews were conducted via phone, and interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.
  
  Results
  
  We identified four themes from the transcript analysis process: Black queer intersectional social support and community, HIV-related information and destigmatization, social status, and sexuality. Within each of these themes, we identified relationships with overall HIV prevention messaging, including barriers to PrEP use. Barriers related to social status were especially prevalent and described as unique to the D.C. metropolitan area.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Overall, MPowerment event spaces provide a forum for BSMM to feel safe and supported while gaining important HIV-related knowledge and prevention access. Challenges related to social status and destigmatization of sexuality are important considerations in designing and implementing this model, especially related to PrEP promotion.
  
  
• Keywords:
  HIV Homophobia Intersectionality MPowerment PrEP Racism Stigma
• Source:
  Int J Behav Med.
• Pubmed ID:
  38499962
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11563193
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U48DP006382/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U48 DP006382/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R01HL165686/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K01 MD016346/MD/NIMHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HL165686/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K01MD016346/MD/NIMHD NIH HHSUnited States/
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:40a012150eefc09c222a328ecc5255290c81939878cc3ba8459de0f9c50c12df2cd9cf35da5905690619b193b88093a52b5431a6022e15d7bc3060929384100a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169996/cdc_169996_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 342.68 KB ]