Culturally tailoring the Real Men Are Safe HIV prevention intervention.

This poster reports on a study designed to revise the CDC recognized, evidence-based HIV prevention intervention, “Real Men Are Safe” (REMAS) to be more culturally relevant to African American and Hispanic men, and then conduct a pilot feasibility trial of the revised REMAS in four CTN community treatment providers that have a high percentage of minority clients. The Delphi Process was used to modify the intervention, with expert panel members reviewing and rating all the modules from REMAS and four other HIV prevention interventions tailored to minority men. Panel members also provided specific suggestions of ways to revise REMAS to make it more culturally sensitive. After round 1, the manual was revised and then rated again by the expert panel in round 2. Following round 2, the final version, REMAS-CA (“culturally adapted”) was completed and readied for pilot testing.

The Delphi Process was found to be a successful technique for the revision process, and though the quantitative ratings and qualitative suggestions were, for the most part, consistent with each other, the qualitative feedback was utilized more extensively in making revisions to REMAS (specific revisions are noted in the poster). The effectiveness of the REMAS-CA at decreasing high risk sexual behavior of African American and Hispanic men in substance abuse treatment is currently undergoing pilot testing.