Leveraging Social Networks to Promote PrEP among Young Latino Sexual Minority Men

PROJECT SUMMARY HIV disproportionately impacts Latino sexual minority men (SMM), particularly youth and young adults. HIV incidence in young Latino SMM is in part driven by low uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) due to multilevel barriers. In my prior work, I led a community-driven media campaign entitled “PrEPárate” (“Be

PrEPared”) which promoted PrEP information and a website with affordable and bilingual options to access PrEP. The campaign was associated with increased PrEP awareness and use but had limited reach to highly marginalized young Latino SMM (e.g., those without insurance, those with limited English proficiency). In this

K23 career development award, I propose to develop, pilot, and evaluate a multilevel intervention that combines a refined media campaign and peer-based strategy, informed by social network analysis. For youth and young adults, social networks of peers and family are especially influential in decision making and present

an opportunity to promote PrEP among marginalized communities. Through this award, I will receive new training and mentored experience in (1) social network analysis, (2) multilevel intervention development, and (3) implementation science. This K23 will lay the groundwork for an R01 application to conduct a randomized

controlled trial studying the effectiveness of a multilevel intervention to increase PrEP use among young Latino SMM. This proposal will advance understanding of how cultural and developmental factors shape young Latino SMM social networks and also will help identify optimal strategies to address PrEP disparities for youth and

young adults. Through this training, I will gain the skills required to transition to independence as an investigator with expertise in interventions to address HIV-related disparities among marginalized youth and young adults.