Medical mistrust is associated with HIV disparities among HLMSM because mistrust may result in delayed or reduced use of needed HIV prevention (e.g., HIV testing and Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake) and care (e.g., AntiretroViral Therapy \[ART\]) services.
While advances have been made to increase the use of HIV prevention and care services, profound disparities persist, and a need remains for increased understanding of the multilevel drivers of medical mistrust and for effective interventions to address these drivers among HLMSM in the US.
This research proposes a mixed-method study that includes rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the drivers of medical mistrust among Spanish-speaking, English-speaking, and bilingual (including Spanish and English, or an indigenous language and Spanish and/or English) HLMSM. This study also proposes to refine and test a multilevel intervention designed to address medical mistrust and increase the use of needed HIV prevention and care services among diverse HLMSM in Mecklenburg County, NC, a jurisdiction prioritized by the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US (EHE) initiative.
