Projects

Improving Mental Health Among Colombian and Venezuelan Children and Youth Affected by Armed Conflict: Adaptation and Implementation of Two Trauma-informed, Evidence-based Interventions 

Multiple Principal Investigator: Alethea Desrosiers (Contact mPI), Maria Piñeros-Leaño (MPI)
Agency: Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Researchers will culturally adapt and pilot-test two trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions—practices or programs that have been proven effective through outcome evaluations. These will help serve the needs of some of the more than 8.1 million internally displaced persons  (IDPs) officially recognized as victims of the five-decade conflict in Colombia, as well as the approximately 1.8 million Venezuelans who fled to Colombia to escape their country’s economic devastation, violence, and political repression.

Adherence to HIV treatment postpartum: the implications of transitions among women living with HIV in South Africa

Agency: NIH/NIMH (K01 MH112443)
Globally, prevention of mother-to-child transmission initiatives have been widely effective at reducing the rates of perinatal infections, however, postpartum mothers living with HIV are still at increased risk for HIV treatment non-adherence, which is crucial to infant and maternal well-being. There is an urgent public health need to determine the dynamic factors that result in sub-optimal ART adherence as women transition from pregnancy to postpartum and to develop bio-behavioral interventions to address these factors to improve HIV treatment adherence postpartum. Overall, this approach has the potential to decrease mortality during motherhood and reduce the transmission of HIV, both vertically and horizontally. 

Empowerment through Education and Entrepreneurship for Indigenous Adolescents in Ecuador

Investigators: Omar Galarraga (Principal Investigator), Alethea Desrosiers (co-Investigator)
Agency: Brown University Population Studies and Training Center Seed Funds
We propose to adapt and evaluate a multifaceted program to break the cycle of low-skilled jobs and high fertility among indigenous adolescents (IA) in Ecuador. The program will enhance human capital in two ways: (1) by providing entrepreneurial skills to enable IA to start income-generating activities; and (2) by increasing access to comprehensive sexuality education to enable IA to make informed decisions about sex, reproduction, and marriage. Research activities will include program adaptation based on cultural norms, and a pilot to test feasibility and acceptability. Sexual health education will be delivered through an existing online platform, and vocational modules will be delivered in afterschool “entrepreneurship clubs”. We will culturally adapt the program to Cotacachi, Imbabura, Ecuador (a region with high indigenous concentration), and recruit N=60 male and female IA in their last years of high school in Cotacachi (n=30 randomized to the intervention and n=30 controls).  

Schools Championing Safe South Africa: An Intervention Engaging Teachers and Students in Adolescent Prevention of HIV risk and Intimate Partner Violence

Multiple Principal Investigators: Abigail Harrison (Contact PI), Caroline Kuo (American University), Catherine Mathews
Agency: NIH/NIMH (R34MH124469)
This research addresses the context of social norms related to violence and HIV risk behaviors among secondary-school going boys in metropolitan Cape Town, South Africa, in partnership with American University, Washington DC and the South African Medical Research Council.  In this study, we develop and investigate the acceptability and feasibility of Schools Championing Safe South Africa, an integrated HIV-IPV intervention where teachers and student peers engage adolescent boys in a developmentally-tailored approach to prevent adolescent HIV risk behavior and IPV using a social norms approach. We work in South Africa, a country with the largest HIV epidemic and some of the highest rates of IPV in the world. We propose the following specific aims: (1) Development aim – Gather behavioral and social norms data from teachers and students (aiming for 75% of students) relating to student-level prevention of HIV and IPV in 3 schools to inform the social norms campaign content for Schools Championing Safe South Africa; (2) Refinement aim – Refine content for the social norms poster campaign and other intervention components using n=5-10 interviews with teachers and k=3-6 focus groups with students in School #1 (poster campaign refinement school); and (3) Acceptability and feasibility aim – Conduct a randomized controlled pilot trial of the social norms campaign comparing School #2 (experimental intervention school) versus School #3 (wait list control school) with 1- and 6- month follow-up to measure change among students at high risk for sexual risk behavior and IPV perpetration (e.g., adolescent boys 15-17 years), and to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. 

HIV risk reduction intervention for trans-women with intimate partner victimization

Multiple Principal Investigator: Shufang Sun (Contact PI),  Don Operario, Dawn M Johnson
Agency: NIH/NIMH (R34 MH119968)
This treatment development research will develop and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and initial effects of a brief intervention that concurrently targets HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV) risk, as well as that addresses inter-related risks of HIV and IPV (e.g., substance use and PTSD) for transgender women. The proposed intervention will be based on the Gender Affirmation Framework, which emphasizes interpersonal processes to positively affirm the identities and unique needs of transgender people, and will also integrate a trauma-informed empowerment approach, which is the model of choice when working with survivors of IPV. The intervention is hypothesized to reduce HIV risk within the context of IPV and related risk factors (e.g., substance use and PTSD), and to improve a range of primary prevention behaviors such as condom use, pre- exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and repeat HIV testing.