NCT03049904

American Indian and Alaska Native Men Who Have Sex With Men HIV & Substance Abuse Research

Completed NA Last updated 30 April 2018

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Vr2L 2Spirit in HIV in 79 participants. Completed in 30 March 2018.

Timeline

19 February 2017

Primary endpoint
30 March 2018

30 March 2018

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Washington
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	double
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	79
Start date	19 February 2017
Primary completion	30 March 2018
Estimated completion	30 March 2018
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Vr2L 2Spirit

Conditions studied

• HIV — all drugs for HIV →
• Substance Use — all drugs for Substance Use →

Sponsor

University of Washington

Who can join

18 and older, male only, with HIV or Substance Use. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

This is a pilot study of the feasibility of the virtually reality, online, culturally grounded HIV prevention intervention for Native American men who have sex with men. The project will include 90 Native American men who have sex with men (MSM) from across the continental United States as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

The investigators will use a randomized clinical trial with a waitlist control condition to evaluate the intervention's impact on HIV / Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) testing behavior, condom use, and substance use harm reduction. Specifically, investigators will ask participants to spend 3 weeks exploring a virtual reality environment hosted in the Second Life® platform. The island consists of 3 levels: Learning Level, Skills building level, and Experiential level.

In the Learning level the participant's avatar will have the opportunity to attend up to 2 free Motivational Interviewing sessions to establish their goals for their time on the island. Additionally, they will explore 4 learning paths each covering a knowledge objective: HIV Testing, Condom Use \& Condom Use Negotiation, Safer Sex, and Harm Reduction. Each path will present knowledge via videos, interactive games, stories, and teachings. After completing level 1, participants will move on to the Skills building level. Here participants will have the opportunity to role play scenarios (e.g., obtaining an HIV test, requesting PrEP from their doctor, negotiating condom use) with pre-program virtual actors. All scenarios are based on the knowledge gained in the Learning Level. Participants will also engage on mini-quests for additional knowledge and in-world rewards. Finally, in the third level participants will be able to practice the skills learned in interactions with other participants' avatars.

If efficacious, this online HIV prevention intervention has the potential for widespread dissemination and could be particularly helpful for rural and reservation-based Native MSM who often have difficulty accessing services and support.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.