Risk Assessment of Long-Haul Truck Drivers

The study proposed in this R34 application will address the following specific aims: Specific Aim 1. To perform focus groups and in-depth interviews with long-haul truck drivers to guide development of both a behavioral risk assessment instrument and an acceptable HIV/STI screening protocol for long-haul truckers. Specific Aim 2. To perform in-depth interviews with trucking industry executives to determine barriers to routine HIV/STI assessment and screening of their employees. Specific Aim 3. To perform a pilot phase with a subsample of long-haul truck drivers characterized by the following steps: TTM-based "cognitive interviews" (N=5); pilot testing of the survey and biomedical screening protocol (N=15); and a follow-up focus group (N=8) Specific Aim 4. To assess a sample of (N=300) truck drivers for general health and sexual risk behaviors using the adapted theory-based survey and to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and obesity, HIV, N. gonorrhoeae, and C. trachomatis