HIV and Substance Abuse Prevention Research

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CHOIR investigators received several grants to support community-based HIV and substance abuse prevention among vulnerable youth.   

  • Dr. Steven Lankenau was awarded a grant from NIH entitled "Non-Medical Prescription Drug Use Among High-Risk Youth." This four-year study will study initiation, patterns of use, and risk behaviors associated with prescription drug misuse among high-risk youth in New York and Los Angeles. 
  • Dr. Leslie Clark received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Project AIM: Adult Identity Mentoring Project. Project AIM has been identified by the CDC as an evidence-based HIV-prevention intervention that is effective for use with African American, middle-school-aged adolescents.  The CDC is now supporting the adaptation of this intervention for other high-risk youth, and efficacy trials with other youth groups have been proposed to NIH.
  • Dr. Michele Kipke was awarded a grant from NIH entitled “African American Young Men’s Study”. The purpose of this study is to understand and characterize:
    1. The structural, social, and cultural characteristics of the Ball and House communities in Los Angeles
    2. Ball and House members’ use of illicit drugs, involvement in HIV risk and protective behaviors, and their social and sexual networks
    3. The role that rejection and discrimination play with respect to encouraging drug use and HIV risk, and hence might be targets for intervention
  • Dr. Michele Kipke received a grant from NIH entitled “Young Men’s Adult Identity Mentoring.” The purpose of this study is to:
    1. Adapt an effective, evidence-based intervention called Project AIM (Adult Identity Mentoring) so that it is developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant for use with African-American (AA) young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in Los Angeles
    2. Pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of the new intervention that we will call Young Men’s AIM (YM-AIM)
    3. Identify barriers and facilitators with respect to implementing YM-AIM in community settings
  • Dr. Michele Kipke received a grant from the NIH’s National Center to Reduce Disparities, in the form of a supplement, to study HIV risk and protective behaviors among Asian/Pacific Islander young men.  She also received a grant from the California HIV/AIDS Research Program entitled “Asian/Pacific Islander Young Men’s Study.” This study will include pilot and feasibility research with API YMSM to:
    1. Characterize the concerns, fears, and perceived barriers with respect to API YMSM’s participation in HIV-related research
    2. Examine HIV risk/protective behaviors among API YMSM within the context of their social and sexual networks