Co-creating strategies to promote uptake of HIV self-testing among young adults in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina: a protocol for a pilot implementation study.
Ucheoma Nwaozuru, Lindsay Miller, Laura H Gunn, Sebastian Marin-Cespedes, Margaret Hanff, Patrick Robinson, Michael Dulin, Meghana Muralidhar, Prashant Jha, Goodness C Mirikwe, Donaldson F Conserve, Chelsea Gulden, Bernard A Davis, Kristie Foley, Joseph Tucker, Meagan Zarwell
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Abstract
Background: HIV testing is the gateway to entering HIV care and prevention services. However, HIV testing rates remain low among young adults (18-29 years old) in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (NC), an ending the HIV epidemic (EHE) priority jurisdiction. We aim to utilize community-engaged and participatory approaches to co-create implementation strategies to promote the reach and uptake of HIV self-testing (HIVST) among young adults in the region. This study protocol outlines the phases of the project and the proposed outcomes.
Methods: The Community-engaged Approaches to Expand HIV Self-Testing among Young Adults in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (CATEST) project will be conducted in three phases, guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), and Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) frameworks. The formative phase of the study, guided by CFIR, will focus on understanding the barriers, facilitators, and opportunities for implementing HIVST among young adults in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The second phase, guided by CBPR, will utilize participatory approaches such as crowdsourcing open calls and charrettes to co-create implementation strategies for HIVST. Then, the final pilot implementation phase, guided by CFIR and RE-AIM, will use mixed methods to evaluate the success of the co-created HIVST implementation strategies using a pre-post design. Participants in the study will complete a baseline survey and a follow-up survey immediately following intervention completion. In addition, a purposive sample of participants and representatives at the participating community organization will complete qualitative exit interviews within 1 month of intervention completion.
Discussion: This study protocol outlines the co-creation of implementation strategies, tests their feasibility, and explores preliminary effectiveness in promoting HIVST uptake among young adults in Mecklenburg County, NC. The study will yield insights on the feasibility of leveraging the capabilities of community and youth innovation to promote young adults-centered implementation strategies to advance the reach and adoption of HIVST among young adults.
Registration: Registered on Open Science Forum-DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/2BZWV.
背景：艾滋病毒检测是进入艾滋病毒护理和预防服务的门户。然而，北卡罗来纳州梅克伦堡县（Mecklenburg County, North Carolina， NC）的年轻人（18-29岁）的艾滋病毒检测率仍然很低，这是一个结束艾滋病毒流行（EHE）的优先管辖区。我们的目标是利用社区参与和参与性方法共同制定实施战略，以促进该地区年轻人接受艾滋病毒自我检测（HIVST）。本研究方案概述了项目的各个阶段和拟议的成果。方法：在北卡罗来纳州梅克伦堡县扩大年轻人艾滋病毒自我检测的社区参与方法（CATEST）项目将分三个阶段进行，以实施研究综合框架（CFIR）、社区参与性研究（CBPR）和覆盖、有效性、采用、实施和维护（RE-AIM）框架为指导。在CFIR的指导下，该研究的形成阶段将侧重于了解在北卡罗来纳州梅克伦堡县的年轻人中实施艾滋病毒传播的障碍、促进因素和机会。在CBPR的指导下，第二阶段将利用诸如众包公开征集和讨论会等参与性方法，共同制定艾滋病毒传播的实施战略。然后，在CFIR和RE-AIM的指导下，最后的试点实施阶段将使用混合方法，使用前后设计来评估共同制定的hiv - st实施战略的成功。研究参与者将在干预结束后立即完成基线调查和随访调查。此外，有目的的参与者和参与社区组织的代表将在干预完成后1个月内完成定性的退出访谈。讨论：本研究方案概述了共同制定的实施策略，测试了其可行性，并探讨了在北卡罗来纳州梅克伦堡县促进年轻人接受艾滋病毒感染方面的初步效果。这项研究将对利用社区和青年创新能力促进以年轻人为中心的实施战略的可行性产生见解，以促进年轻人感染艾滋病毒和接受艾滋病毒感染。注册：注册于开放科学论坛- doi 10.17605/OSF.IO/2BZWV。
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