AzTrials
AzTrials

Sexual and Gender MinoritiesNCT06315218

Examining the Health Effects of NPOWER365 Among Black Same Gender Loving Men

A study testing NPOWER365 HIV care intervention in people with Sexual and Gender Minorities and Social Stigma, run by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Not yet recruiting

Opening soon. The study is approved but enrolment has not started yet. Sites may already take enquiries.

Sites and contacts
Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

This research study aims to test the effectiveness, reach, and maintenance over time of the NPOWER365 HIV care intervention for Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) living with HIV. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
What is being tested?
NPOWER365 HIV care intervention
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
350 participants
Where
No sites listed yet
Study dates
Aug 2026to Apr 2028
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Identify as Black or African American, regardless of ethnicity
  • Identify as male, regardless of sex assigned at birth
  • Are living with HIV and prescribed a daily ART regimen
  • Are age ≥ 18;
  • Have sex with men
  • Own an internet-connected device (e.g., smartphone, tablet)
  • Reside in the Atlanta-area EHE jurisdictions.

Who cannot join

  • Lack of English fluency
  • Past participation in the pilot.

Trial locations and contacts

No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Devin English, Ph.D. contact

973-972-1755

Devin.English@rutgers.edu

About this study

This research study aims to test the effectiveness, reach, and maintenance over time of the NPOWER365 HIV care intervention for Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) living with HIV. NPOWER365 is a BMSM community-developed multicomponent intervention that aims to: 1) Support daily health promotion via HIV health education and health maintenance reminders; 2) Foster positive social connections among BMSM via online moderated forums, interpersonal chats, and community calendars; 3) Connect clients to BMSM-affirming healthcare, including HIV treatment and mental healthcare; 4) Provide resources for housing, transportation, and other economic empowerment.

Read the detailed description

This research study aims to test the effectiveness, reach, and maintenance over time of the NPOWER365 HIV care intervention for Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) living with HIV. NPOWER365 is a BMSM community-developed multicomponent intervention that aims to: 1) Support daily health promotion via HIV health education and health maintenance reminders; 2) Foster positive social connections among BMSM via online moderated forums, interpersonal chats, and community calendars; 3) Connect clients to BMSM-affirming healthcare, including HIV treatment and mental healthcare; 4) Provide resources for housing, transportation, and other economic empowerment.

Participants will be recruited in collaboration with NAESM INC, our community partner and the largest BMSM-led social service organization for BMSM in the Atlanta, GA metro area. We will recruit 8 participants per month. After completing an online screener to assess for basic eligibility requirements, participants will be scheduled for an online, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)-compliant Zoom consent and baseline survey process. All online assessments will be completed using HIPAA-compliant Qualtrics surveys.

Participants will review study information and complete informed consent procedures with study staff, including agreeing to provide access to their NPOWER365 paradata (i.e., app engagement data) and HIV viral suppression results. Once consented, participants will complete a computerized timeline follow-back interview to assess HIV anti-retroviral treatment (ART) adherence and substance use, as well as measures of intersectional stigma, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, emotion regulation, social support coping, ART information and motivation, and multilevel barriers to ART adherence. They will also be guided through a practice daily diary. Finally, intervention group participants will be registered for the mHealth (e.g., online forums) and institutional (e.g., linkage to care) aspects of NPOWER365(see Research Strategy of the appended NIH R01 application for additional details on these procedures). Control group participants will remain on the registration waitlist until after the 6-month study is over. All participants will receive virtual gift card compensation directly following the baseline.

All participants will complete brief daily measures of intersectional stigma, ART adherence, substance use, depressive and anxiety symptoms, emotion regulation, and social support coping for 14 days after baseline to assess NPOWER365effectiveness. Upon completion of the 2-week cycle, participants will complete a 2-week follow-up online survey, including identical measures to those received at baseline. All participants will receive compensation for their participation in the 2-week assessment as well as compensation based on the number of daily surveys they completed.

There will then be online follow-up surveys at 1-, 2-, 4-, and 6-months post baseline. These assessments will include identical measures to the baseline and 2-week assessments. As with the baseline, participants will receive virtual gift-card compensation directly after they complete their surveys. Following the 6-month assessment, all participants will participate in a second 2-week daily diary study. At the end of the 2-week process, participants will engage in a debriefing session and have the opportunity to provide feedback on the NPOWER365intervention and the research process. As with the initial daily diary period, participants will receive virtual gift-card compensation based on the number of surveys they completed.

The primary analytic aims of the study will be to: 1) Test the effectiveness of NPOWER365 in improving daily and longer-term (1-6 month) ART adherence; 2) Test the effectiveness of NPOWER365 in improving daily and longer-term (1-6 month) secondary outcomes (i.e., substance use, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, emotion regulation, social support coping, ART information and motivation, and multilevel barriers to ART adherence) and exploratory outcome (viral load); 3) Examine the moderating effect of NPOWER365 on associations between intersectional stigma and primary and secondary HIV-related behavioral and psychological health outcomes; 4) Evaluate user-level and setting-level maintenance and reach data including how the effects of, and engagement with, NPOWER365are sustained across the 6-month period within individual participants, how the effects of NPOWER365 are sustained across the 50-month period for participants who participate at different times, how engagement with NPOWER365 is sustained 1-year post-study (as observed via paradata), how is the intervention adapted over the 50-month study period, and what are the characteristics of the individuals who participate and use NPOWER365.

We will estimate all analytic models in Mplus and SPSS. We will test the effectiveness of NPOWER365 on daily primary and secondary HIV outcomes by examining a series of two-level dynamic structural equation models (DSEMs) that test differences in within-participant changes in our outcomes across intervention groups. We will test the effectiveness of NPOWER365 on longer-term primary and secondary HIV outcomes through between- and within-group analyses estimated as latent growth curve models that test changes in the outcomes across intervention groups during the 6-month study period. We will examine the main effects of intersectional stigma on primary and secondary HIV outcomes using DSEM in autoregressive models (VAR (1)). We will build off these VAR (1) models to examine the moderating effects of NPOWER365 on the intersectional stigma HIV outcomes associations using multiple group moderation analyses. If we find significant intervention group differences we will examine the associations between specific mHealth components (e.g., mHealth forums) and theoretically relevant mediators (e.g., social support coping) and outcomes (e.g., depressive symptoms). We will run all descriptive analyses for reach and maintenance in SPSS. Effects maintenance analyses with build off the DSEM and VAR (1) models to observe time as a predictor of within-participants and across-participants changes in NPOWER365 effects.

Being tested
NPOWER365 HIV care intervention
Medical subject headings
Coitus, Social Stigma, Medication Adherence, Depression, Anxiety Disorders

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • NPOWER365 HIV care interventionBehavioural

    NPOWER365 is a multicomponent intervention that combines mHealth features and institutional to support community priorities identified in formative CBPR. In line with best-practices for trials of intervention principles (TIPs) with mHealth interventions, NPOWER365 deploys intervention elements that serve to accomplish intervention strategies. NPOWER365 intervention strategies are to promote: 1)Health knowledge and motivation; 2)Social support coping; 3)Access to culturally-affirming healthcare; and 4)Housing and other economic resources. NPOWER365 pursues these strategies via these intervention elements: 1)Weekly HIV and psychological health information and motivation content and daily health notifications; 2)Online moderated forums, interpersonal chats, and community calendars; 3)Linkage to biopsychosocial healthcare via NAESM's network of Black SGLM-affirming providers; and 4)Housing and economic resources through NAESM's direct support and referral network.

Study groups in NCT06315218
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Intervention ArmExperimentalNPOWER365 is a multicomponent intervention that combines mHealth features and institutional to support community priorities identified in formative CBPR. In line with best practices for trials of intervention principles (TIPs) with mHealth interventions, NPOWER365 deploys intervention elements that serve to accomplish intervention strategies. NPOWER365 intervention strategies are to promote: 1)Health knowledge and motivation; 2)Social support coping; 3)Access to culturally-affirming healthcare; and 4)Housing and other economic resources. NPOWER365 pursues these strategies via these intervention elements: 1)Weekly HIV and psychological health information and motivation content and daily health notifications; 2)Online moderated forums, interpersonal chats, and community calendars; 3)Linkage to biopsychosocial healthcare via NAESM's network of Black SGLM-affirming providers; and 4)Housing and economic resources through NAESM's direct support and referral network.
Receives: Behavioral: NPOWER365 HIV care intervention
Control ArmNo interventionThe 6-month waitlist control group will have access only to NAESM services not covered by NPOWER365, such as in-person events. The investigators will ensure the control group does not access the NPOWER365 mHealth app portion by screening all new app users, giving the intervention group unique private log-ins, and explaining the importance of securing those log-ins to ensure the accuracy of study results.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Antiretroviral (ART) Medication Use

    For daily surveys, participants will report ART adherence on a single binary item ("In the past 24 hours did the participant take ART medication?")

    Measured: 24 hours

  2. ART adherence-Long Lag Assessments

    The investigators will use the NAME scale that assesses barriers to ART adherence.

    Measured: 2 weeks

Secondary outcomes (10)
  1. Daily Diary Substance Use

    The investigators will measure daily substance use with single-item binary measures of various substances (e.g.,alcohol, marijuana).

    Measured: 24 hours

  2. Substance Use-Long Lag Assessments

    For long lags (i.e., 2 week assessment to 6 month assessment), participants will complete an online, automated retrospective assessment of substance use in the past 2 weeks.

    Measured: 2 weeks

  3. Depressive Symptoms

    The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 assesses anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants rate the extent to which the participants had been experiencing each item the past day (e.g., "In the past 24 hours, I've been feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge") on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 3 (entirely). The investigators used an average across all items for each time point.

    Measured: 24 hours

  4. Depressive Symptoms-Long Lag

    The Brief Symptom Inventory assesses anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants rate the extent to which the participants had been experiencing each item the past two weeks (e.g., "Feeling hopeless about the future") on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (Extremely). The investigators will use an average across all items for each time point.

    Measured: 2 weeks

  5. Anxiety Symptoms

    The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 assesses anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants rate the extent to which the participants had been experiencing each item the past day (e.g., "In the past 24 hours, I've been feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge") on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 3 (completely). We used an average across all items for each time point.

    Measured: 24 hours

  6. Anxiety Symptoms-Long Lag

    The Brief Symptom Inventory assesses anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants rate the extent to which the participants had been experiencing each item the past 2 weeks (e.g., "Feeling tense or keyed up") on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (Extremely). The investigators will use an average across all items for each time point.

    Measured: 2 weeks

  7. Emotion Regulation Emotion Regulation

    A validated four-item version of the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale assesses emotion regulation. Participants rated the extent to which the participants had been experiencing each item (e.g., "In the past 24 hours, I've been experiencing my emotions as overwhelming") in the past day on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 3 (entirely). The investigators used an average across all items for each time point.

    Measured: 24 hours

  8. Emotion Regulation-Long Lag Assessments

    The investigators will use the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale- Short Form (DERS-SF) for long lags

    Measured: 2 weeks

  9. COPE

    A modified version of the Brief-COPE assesses coping approaches to stress over the last 24 hour. It includes the 6 items from the interconnectedness and problem-oriented subscales, and 3 original items assessing specific interconnectedness with Black LGBTQ people and problem-oriented action against injustice.

    Measured: 24 hours

  10. COPE-Long Lag Assessments

    The investigators will use the Brief-COPE measure to assess past 2-week coping, which assesses the following coping approaches in 28 items: Self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional social support, use of instrumental social support, Behavioral disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humor, acceptance, religion, and self-blame.

    Measured: 2 weeks

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted18 Mar 2024
  2. Study startAug 2026 (estimated)
  3. Primary completionApr 2028 (estimated)
  4. Study completionApr 2028 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Participant
Enrolment
350 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06315218
Sponsor's protocol ID
Pro2023000968
Other IDs
1R01MH134265-01
Status last verified
Jun 2026
First submitted
11 Mar 2024
Last updated
10 Jun 2026
Results posted
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: Outside researchers will be able to request access to these de-identified data through email to the PI in order to conduct analyses for which the PI and study team do not have expertise. This request will be considered by the PI, the appropriate officers at Rutgers University for processing. As such, the PI will initiate a DTA, and seek the legal advice of Rutgers University regarding the adequacy of compliance with any relevant laws, policies, or regulations. If approved, data will be completely de-identified and shared through a secure sharing mechanism (e.g., password protected and encrypted online database for electronic data). No participant codes will be shared with external researchers.

Publications

  • English D, Smith JC, Scott-Walker L, Lopez FG, Morris M, Reid M, Lashay C, Bridges D, McNeish D. Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary HIV Care and Psychological Health Effects of iTHRIVE 365 for Black Same Gender Loving Men. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2023 May 1;93(1):55-63. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000003167.

    PubMed 36706362
  • English D, Smith JC, Scott-Walker L, Lopez FG, Morris M, Reid M, Lashay C, Bridges D, Rosales A, Cunningham DJ. iTHRIVE 365: A Community-Led, Multicomponent Health Promotion Intervention for Black Same Gender Loving Men. Ann LGBTQ Public Popul Health. 2023 Dec;4(4):363-383. doi: 10.1891/lgbtq-2022-0009.

    PubMed 39055282
  • English D, Smith JC, Scott-Walker L, Chavez E, Quamina A, Woodson W, Miles A, Pickett D, Reid M, Folkes D, Harrington CN, Hussen SA, Lelutiu-Weinberger C, McNeish D, Bowleg L. Examining a multicomponent health promotion intervention among Black same gender loving men in southern ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. jurisdictions: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2026 Feb 13;26(1):939. doi: 10.1186/s12889-026-26245-3.

    PubMed 41688950

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing NPOWER365 HIV care intervention in people with Sexual and Gender Minorities and Social Stigma, run by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 10 Jun 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Devin English, Ph.D. (973-972-1755, Devin.English@rutgers.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Antiretroviral (ART) Medication Use (time frame: 24 hours). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06315218, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 10 Jun 2026.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in