Integrating HIV and Mental Health Services for Black Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV: Findings from the STYLE 2.0 Intervention.

Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (BMSM) in the US South are disproportionately impacted by HIV. We adapted Project Strength Through Youth Livin' Empowered (STYLE) to create STYLE 2.0 to assist young BMSM link and remain engaged in HIV care. The multi-component intervention included (1) health care navigators to facilitate linkage and engagement activities, (2) motivational interviewing by a behavioral health provider, and (3) a mobile app to reduce stigma and social isolation. We enrolled 66 BMSM from North and South Carolina in the 12-month intervention and analyzed longitudinal data to assess service utilization, dose, and delivery characteristics while also examining changes in HIV care continuum outcomes. We examined associations between intervention characteristics and HIV care continuum outcomes using logistic regression. We found that all HIV outcomes improved from baseline to 12-month follow-up, including receipt of HIV care (78.8-84.9%), retention in HIV care (75.9-87.7%), being prescribed antiretroviral therapy (ART) (96.8-98.5%), and achieving viral suppression (82.3-90.8%), although none were statistically significant. In multi-variable analyses, participants with more encounters categorized as food bank were more likely to report being prescribed ART [odds ratio (OR): 41.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.72-637.74]. Clients with more referral to care encounters were less likely to have been prescribed ART (OR: 0.02; 95% CI: <0.001-0.42) and be virally suppressed (OR: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.18-0.84). Findings suggest that an integrated approach to HIV and behavioral health services may help BMSM living with HIV overcome structural and social barriers to HIV care.

Frontline Perspectives from the Implementation of Evidenced-Informed Interventions to Improve Behavioral Health and HIV Outcomes Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States.

The perspectives and contributions of frontline staff are critical to the success of integrated HIV and behavioral health services in the United States (US). In this analytic essay, we share five key priority areas from frontline staff at four diverse sites funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration to support the implementation of interventions to improve HIV and behavioral health outcomes among Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) living with HIV. The five main priorities focused on: (1) COVID-19 pandemic adaptations; (2) recruitment/enrollment; (3) retention; (4) frontline self-care; and (5) replication considerations. Projects had to be nimble and innovative in their delivery of services; leverage existing infrastructure; and they had to try multiple approaches to reach BMSM and modify/drop them as needed. Future implementers should expect to support frontline staff self-care given the added stress of working under COVID-19 pandemic conditions and in communities with limited and uncoordinated behavioral health services.