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A Systematic Review of Interventions for Young Men Who Have Sex With Men and Young Transgender Women Living with HIV

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Abstract

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and young transgender women (YTGW) have unique challenges to HIV care. We conducted a systematic review to summarize behavioral and structural interventions exclusively targeting YMSM and YTGW living with HIV. We screened 6546 records published through August 19th, 2022 from six databases. For eligibility, studies needed to involve structural or behavioral interventions exclusively targeting YMSM and/or YTGW living with HIV or presenting disaggregated data in this group. Quality assessment was performed using the ICROMS checklist. Twenty studies from 18 interventions were included in the review. There was considerable heterogeneity in intervention characteristics, including population, location, content and format of the interventions and targeted outcomes. Half of the interventions were described as pilot studies, and all but one study was conducted in the United States. The most common outcomes included the HIV care continuum, followed by HIV knowledge and self-efficacy, HIV-risk behaviors and mental health. The evidence base remained sparse, and the results on effectiveness were inconsistent, with some interventions reporting improved outcomes among participants after receiving treatment and others not reporting any meaningful changes. Although there has been some progress in the development of interventions targeting this group, we highlighted several directions for future research. Interventions expanding to low-resource settings, addressing structural barriers, and targeting different aspects of health among participants are warranted. Rigorous studies with larger sample sizes that follow participants over longer periods are necessary to increase the strength of the evidence.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the support in conducting this systematic review offered by Ms Karen Stanley Grigg, Health Sciences Librarian for Collections and Instruction, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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  1. Department of Epidemiology, Hanoi Medical University, Room 411, Building A7, 1 Ton That Tung, Dong Da, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Minh X. Nguyen

  2. Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Chunyan Li

  3. College of Nursing, Florida States University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Kate Muessig

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Bradley N. Gaynes

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Bradley N. Gaynes

  6. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Vivian F. Go

Authors
  1. Minh X. Nguyen
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  2. Chunyan Li
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  3. Kate Muessig
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  4. Bradley N. Gaynes
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  5. Vivian F. Go
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Contributions

MXN, VFG: conceptualization; MXN, CL, KM, BNG, VFG: methodology; MXN, CL: data curation; MXN, CL: formal analysis; MXN: writing—original draft; MXN, CL, KM, BNG, VFG: writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Minh X. Nguyen.

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This study did not involve human subjects and did not require institutional review board (IRB) review as well as informed consent.

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Nguyen, M.X., Li, C., Muessig, K. et al. A Systematic Review of Interventions for Young Men Who Have Sex With Men and Young Transgender Women Living with HIV. AIDS Behav 28, 1485–1511 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04166-1

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