1. Gender-specific HIV and substance abuse prevention strategies for South African men: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
- Author
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Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane, Tomlinson, Mark, Mayekiso, Andile, Bantjes, Jason, Harris, Danielle M, Stewart, Jacqueline, and Weiss, Robert E
- Subjects
Public Health ,Health Sciences ,Substance Misuse ,Prevention ,Mental Health ,Pediatric AIDS ,Behavioral and Social Science ,HIV/AIDS ,Substance Abuse Prevention ,Drug Abuse (NIDA only) ,Pediatric ,Clinical Research ,Clinical Trials and Supportive Activities ,Management of diseases and conditions ,7.1 Individual care needs ,Infection ,Good Health and Well Being ,Adolescent ,Adult ,Black People ,Crime ,HIV Infections ,Health Behavior ,Health Knowledge ,Attitudes ,Practice ,Humans ,Male ,Peer Influence ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ,Sex Factors ,Sexual Behavior ,Soccer ,Social Determinants of Health ,South Africa ,Substance-Related Disorders ,Time Factors ,Vocational Education ,Young Adult ,Men's HIV risk ,Drug abuse ,Alcohol abuse ,Gender-specific interventions ,HIV prevention for men ,HIV testing ,HIV prevention strategies ,Social determinants of HIV ,Men’s HIV risk ,Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology ,Clinical Sciences ,Cardiovascular System & Hematology ,General & Internal Medicine ,Clinical sciences ,Epidemiology ,Health services and systems - Abstract
BackgroundYoung men in South Africa face concurrent epidemics of HIV, drug and alcohol abuse, and unemployment. Standard HIV prevention programs, located in healthcare settings and/or using counseling models, fail to engage men. Soccer and vocational training are examined as contexts to deliver male-specific, HIV prevention programs.MethodsYoung men (n = 1200) are randomly assigned by neighborhood to one of three conditions: 1) soccer league (n = 400; eight neighborhoods); 2) soccer league plus vocational training (n = 400; eight neighborhoods); or 3) a control condition (n = 400; eight neighborhoods). Soccer practices and games occur three times per week and vocational training is delivered by Silulo Ulutho Technologies and Zenzele Training and Development. At baseline, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months, the relative efficacy of these strategies to increase the number of significant outcomes (NSO) among 15 outcomes which occur (1) or not (0) are summed and compared using binomial logistic regressions. The summary primary outcome reflects recent HIV testing, substance abuse, employment, sexual risk, violence, arrests, and mental health status.DiscussionThe failure of men to utilize HIV prevention programs highlights the need for gender-specific intervention strategies. However, men in groups can provoke and encourage greater risk-taking among themselves. The current protocol evaluates a male-specific strategy to influence men's risk for HIV, as well as to improve their ability to contribute to family income and daily routines. Both interventions are expected to significantly benefit men compared with the control condition.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov registration, NCT02358226 . Registered 24 November 2014.
- Published
- 2018