Development of a Behavioral Economic Intervention to Improve HIV-related Behaviors Among Sexual Minority Individuals

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

This research study is testing a new behavioral therapy called Episodic Future Thinking or EFT can help people reduce drug use and risky sexual behaviors while helping them adhere to their HIV prevention medication (PrEP). Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will receive standard care, which includes counseling on HIV prevention, drug use reduction, and sexual health. The other group will receive standard care plus a new program called Episodic Future Thinking (EFT), where participants will think about and plan for their future goals using a mobile app and counseling sessions. Study procedures that are not part of regular care include filling out surveys, providing blood, urine, and swab samples for testing, and using the EFT app.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: 34
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Adults 18 - 34 years of age

• HIV negative (assessed via Rapid HIV Antibody Test)

• Identify as gay, or bisexual

• Recent (past 3 months) methamphetamine use

• Currently prescribed and taking HIV PrEP medication

• Self-reported HIV PrEP nonadherence in the past three months

• Urine screen test for PrEP nonadherence

• Self-reported condomless anal sex or a STI in the past three months

• Able to attend all study visits

• Fluent in English

Locations
United States
Texas
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
RECRUITING
San Antonio
Contact Information
Primary
Emeka Okafor, PhD, MPH
okaforcn@uthscsa.edu
210-450-7377
Time Frame
Start Date: 2025-03-03
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-07-01
Participants
Target number of participants: 60
Treatments
Experimental: Episodic Future Thinking App
EFT is a behavioral economic intervention designed to improve decision-making by reducing delay discounting and improving demand. The EFT intervention will be administered through a combination of in-person counseling sessions and mobile health (mHealth) technology via an app platform.
No_intervention: Control Group
Standard of Care: The standard of care group will receive brief information and supportive counseling around PrEP adherence, methamphetamine use reduction and engaging in safe sexual behaviors. Participants will also receive counseling on a topic of concern identified by the participant.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Leads: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov