Active clinical trials for "Sexually Transmitted Diseases"

In response to the increasing rates of HIV/STD infections among women over the age of 50, especially minority women, and in the attempt to reduce HIV/STD risks for over ten million older adult American women who are impacted by gray divorce and at risk for unsafe sex, the investigators will create, test, and commercialize a novel positive psychology-based "SmartWeb" intervention to promote wellbeing, HIV/STD awareness, and safe sex practices among culturally-diverse older divorced or separated women who are dating. This large end-user market for the proposed HIV/STD risk reduction intervention will greatly facilitate commercialization through advertisements, marketing research based on data mining, and in collaboration with manufacturers of condoms, and other large companies offering health products and services to older women.

Developed from a piloted intervention and based on scientific evidence, About Us is an innovative healthy relationships intervention that promotes positive adolescent romantic relationships and use of condoms and highly effective contraceptives if having sex. The program includes 10 lessons (2 that are between 30-45 minutes long 8 that are 50 minutes long) that blend group-based activities with online activities implemented in a small group format with students in grades 9 or 10 who have parental consent and provide assent to take part. The program will be implemented in school-based health centers (SBHCs). Primary research question: Nine months following the end of the program, what is the impact of About Us relative to the standard of care on: 1.1. Rates of vaginal or anal sex without condoms in the past three months? Secondary research questions: Three and nine months following the end of the program, what is the impact of About Us relative to the standard of care on: 2.1. Rates of abstinence from vaginal or anal sex in the past three months? 2.2. Frequency of communicating without abuse? 2.3. Utilization of school-based health center services? 2.4. Rates of behavioral willingness and attitudes toward birth control? Exploratory research questions: Three and nine months following the end of the program, what is the impact of About Us relative to the standard of care on: 3.1. The psychosocial variables stemming from the theoretical framework (e.g., attitudes toward condom and contraceptive use, normative beliefs, perceived self-efficacy to use condoms or have difficult conversations) and enumerated in the logic model. 3.2. Outcomes listed above within key sub-groups including those defined by sex (male/female), race/ethnicity, and exposure to violence; Among those receiving About Us, how do effect sizes for the primary and secondary behavioral outcomes vary by dosage?

UCSF is conducting an evaluation of a demonstration project. The aims of the CRUSH-PrEP for Women project are to integrate the delivery of a comprehensive PrEP package for HIV-negative at-risk women into primary care settings. The delivery of the PrEP package will leverage the well regarded reputation of the LifeLong primary care clinicians to provide a highly effective combination HIV prevention strategy including; PrEP, post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP), repeat HIV and STI testing, treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Counselling for for sexual health promotion and services specifically designed for vulnerable women such as staying free of violence and domestic abuse will be offered as an integrated part of this package. UCSF will conduct evaluation activities only. The investigators expect that UCSF will enroll 50 participants in the evaluation assessments across the 15 months of data collection. Evaluation cohort participants will provide quantitative data to evaluate the linkage and engagement in care among clinic attendees as well as the uptake and use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis.

The overall objective of the proposed research is to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among college students. The investigators propose to accomplish this by using the innovative, engineering-inspired multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) to develop a highly effective, appealing, economical, and readily scalable internet-delivered behavioral intervention targeting the intersection of alcohol use and sexual risk behavior. The rate of STIs on college campuses is alarming: one in four college students is diagnosed with an STI at least once during their college experience. Sexual activity when drinking alcohol is highly prevalent among college students. Alcohol use is known to contribute to the sexual risk behaviors that are most responsible for the transmission of STIs, namely unprotected sex, contact with numerous partners, and "hook-ups" (casual sexual encounters). Few interventions have been developed that explicitly target the intersection of alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, and none have been optimized. In order to reduce the incidence of STI transmission among this and other high-risk groups, a new approach is needed. MOST is a comprehensive methodological framework that brings the power of engineering principles to bear on optimization of behavioral interventions. MOST enables researchers to experimentally test the individual components in an intervention to determine their effectiveness, indicating which components need to be revised and re-tested. Given the high rates of alcohol use and sex among college students, the college setting provides an ideal opportunity for intervening on alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors. The proposed study will include a diverse population of college students on 4 campuses which will increase the generalizability of the findings. The specific aims are to (1) develop and pilot test an initial set of online intervention components targeting the link between alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, (2) use the MOST approach to build an optimized preventive intervention, and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of the newly optimized preventive intervention using a fully powered randomized controlled trial (RCT). This work will result in a new, more potent behavioral intervention that will reduce the incidence of STIs among college students in the US, and will lay the groundwork for a new generation of highly effective STI prevention interventions aimed at other subpopulations at risk.

The purpose of this protocol is to develop and evaluate an HIV prevention Entertainment Education (EE) intervention aimed at reaching underserved, at-risk African Americans, aged 18-25 years, living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods in the Birmingham area.

Transgender women (trans women; assigned male sex at birth but identify as female) are at high risk for HIV infection, and are an important, under-researched population in sub-Saharan Africa. Trans women have a 13 times greater risk of acquiring HIV than adults aged 15-49 years in the general population, and in Africa, trans women have nearly twice the HIV prevalence (25%) of men who have sex with men [MSM] (14%). Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective prevention tool that could change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic among the 25 million trans women globally, yet its use has been suboptimal in this vulnerable population. Same-day PrEP initiation is feasible and acceptable and improves retention in PrEP care in resource-rich settings. Same-day initiation of emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (F/TAF), a new PrEP regimen, has not to our knowledge previously been evaluated as PrEP in African trans women. F/TAF is potentially more efficacious and safer than emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (F/TDF) as shown in the recent DISCOVER trial. However, concerns about drug-drug interactions between feminizing hormonal therapy (FHT) and PrEP are a key potential adherence barrier for trans women. While PrEP drugs do not lower FHT levels, FHT decreases plasma TFV and (emtricitabine) FTC levels. Little is known about FHT use among African trans women taking F/TAF or how concerns about F/TAF-FHT interactions may influence PrEP adherence. Moreover, interventions to support PrEP adherence in this population are needed. Feedback about PrEP use has been shown to potentially improve PrEP adherence among MSM but has not been utilized among trans women. Key knowledge gaps include: 1) whether same-day PrEP can be successfully implemented for African trans women, 2) the impact of drug-level feedback on PrEP adherence, and 3) how use of FHT may influence PrEP adherence. To address these questions, this protocol describes a randomized trial to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of same day initiation of F/TAF PrEP, evaluate impact of drug-level feedback on PrEP adherence and characterize PrEP persistence, and in-depth interviews to explore how self-care interventions for sexual health influence prevention choices among trans women and their sexual partners. This will be the first clinical trial, to our knowledge, to evaluate F/TAF as PrEP for HIV-negative trans women in sub-Saharan Africa.

The goal of this project is to evaluate the components of the app-based intervention Mission Wellness to reduce health-risking sexual behaviors (HRSBs; e.g., condom non-use, multiple sexual partners) in active-duty members of the US Military to improve their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and readiness to serve. Following the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) framework, factorial component selection experiments (CSEs) will be conducted to evaluate which five experimental intervention components (i.e., Narratives, Skills, Scenarios, Future, and Risk) elicit the greatest improvements in the outcomes of interest given key constraints.

The objectives of the study are to assess the feasibility, reach and preliminary efficacy of a brief intervention that trains Black men who have sex with men [referred to as Index] (a) to use home-based testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections and (b) promote home-based testing to their peers and sexual partners.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact Pono Choices has among youth for teen pregnancy and STI prevention measures such as: initiation of sexual activity; engagement in high risk sexual behaviors; knowledge of pregnancy and STI prevention; attitudes toward healthy sexual behaviors; skills in managing relationships and choices; and intentions about future sexual activity.

This study evaluates an educational web-based intervention designed to increase adolescent girls' motivation and skills to engage in safer sexual behavior (Project HEART: Health Education and Relationship Training). Half of participants will receive Project HEART and half of participants will receive Project Growing Minds, an attention-matched control website focused on growth mindsets of intelligence and self-regulation. The ultimate goal of this work is to help girls reduce their risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and to avoid unplanned pregnancies.