Comparing recruitment strategies to engage hard-to-reach men who have sex with men living with HIV with unsuppressed viral loads in four US cities: Results from HPTN 078.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

There is an urgent need to identify men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV with unsuppressed viral loads to prevent transmission. Though respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is traditionally used for hard-to-reach populations, we compare how RDS and direct recruitment (DR) perform in identifying MSM living with HIV with unsuppressed viral loads and identifying MSM with socio-demographics characteristic of hard-to-reach populations.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional analysis among 1305 MSM who were recruited from March 2016 to December 2017 for a case management intervention trial (HPTN 078). We recruited participants across four cities using RDS and DR methods: Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; and Boston, MA. Participants completed a socio-demogr

SUBMITTER: Beyrer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8412086 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature