A Pragmatic Clinical Trial of MyPEEPS Mobile to Improve HIV Prevention Behaviors in Diverse Adolescent MSM

The proposed MyPEEPS Mobile intervention is a novel and evidence-driven intervention using mobile technology to deliver HIV prevention information specifically developed for at-risk young men who have sex with men (YMSM). This will be the one of the first studies to test the efficacy of a scaled-up, mobile version of an existing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention originally developed for, designed by, and piloted for, a diverse group of YMSM. MyPEEPS Mobile will be tested in an randomized controlled trial with racially and ethnically diverse HIV-negative or unknown status YMSM aged 13-18 at four geographically diverse sites: Birmingham, Chicago, New York City, and Seattle, allowing for increased generalizability of findings.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a greater burden of HIV/AIDS than any other population group in the US, comprising only 2% of the population but 56% of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Although much of the increased incidence in HIV has been reported among YMSM, especially among racial and ethnic minority groups, and is linked to high-risk sexual behavior, there remains a dearth of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for YMSM - and none that address racially/ethnically diverse YMSM. To address this need, this study leverages mobile technology and MyPEEPS, an existing theory-driven, multi-ethnic, group-level, evidence-based intervention for diverse YMSM. MyPEEPS is a manualized curriculum, comprised of 6 modules focusing on key intermediate social and personal factors, including knowledge (e.g., correct way to use a condom), self-efficacy for safer sex, interpersonal communication skills and behavioral skills. MyPEEPS is one of the only HIV prevention interventions in the literature that focuses on diverse adolescent MSM. Long-term sustainability of face-to face, group-level behavioral interventions, such as MyPEEPS, have been problematic for dissemination in at-risk populations, particularly among young racial and ethnic minority groups. In response to this challenge, the investigators propose to translate MyPEEPS from a face-to-face, group-based curriculum to a mobile, responsive-driven web-based platform, accessible by smartphone or other web-enabled devices, to increase accessibility and scalability for diverse YMSM. The ubiquitous nature of mobile phones in daily life, especially among 13-18 year olds, has created opportunities for health interventions in a portable format with enhanced privacy. Using a participatory approach, this study will incorporate user-centered design in the translation of the MyPEEPS intervention onto a mobile platform.