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In this PRISE news Spotlight, PRISE Center Core Faculty member Dr. Jennifer Velloza shares background, aims, and objectives of her NIH-funded K99/R00 Award.

The goal of Dr. Velloza’s NIH-funded K99/R00 award is to support her transition as an independent HIV and mental health researcher, with a focus on improving delivery of mental health interventions integrated with HIV prevention services for young women.

Title: Adaptation and optimization of the Friendship Bench mental health intervention for adolescent girls and young women in South African PrEP delivery settings.

Background: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa face high rates of both HIV and common mental disorders (including depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress). HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective HIV prevention approach which is being scaled up in South Africa. However, symptoms of common mental disorders are significant barriers to PrEP use and the South African Department of Health is placing increasing emphasis on layered approaches to PrEP delivery for AGYW. Effective mental health treatment, such as problem-solving therapy (PST), has the potential to be integrated with PrEP delivery to address mental health challenges and modifiable barriers to PrEP use and improve PrEP adherence for AGYW.

The Friendship Bench is a promising evidence-based PST intervention option for AGYW in PrEP settings given that it was developed for delivery in busy HIV clinics, is currently being scaled-up in South Africa, and preliminary data suggests it can be adapted to improve HIV treatment adherence among African women. Research is needed to adapt intervention content, evaluate effectiveness on mental health and PrEP adherence outcomes, and identify implementation strategies for AGYW in PrEP delivery settings.

During her prior K99 grant, Dr. Velloza and her team conducted human-centered design research to understand needs around integrated mental health and PrEP intervention delivery and to adapt the Friendship Bench intervention and its implementation strategies.

The overall goal of the R00 grant is to test and optimize the adapted Friendship Bench for South African AGYW in PrEP delivery. The specific aims are to: 1) Conduct a hybrid Type II implementation-effectiveness trial to assess preliminary effectiveness of Youth Friendship Bench SA on PrEP adherence and mental health while optimizing implementation for cost constraints in PrEP delivery; and 2) Identify themes around intervention acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility.

This innovative work has the potential to improve PrEP adherence and mental health among AGYW and findings will lay the groundwork for an R01 proposal to test the impact of the adapted intervention package at scale. The grant is currently in its final year; participant follow-up is now closed, and the team is cleaning and analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data. Final results will be available by March 2025.

About Dr. Velloza:

Dr. Velloza is an implementation scientist and epidemiologist and is an Assistant Professor In Residence in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco. Her R00 grant builds on her previous K99 grant and is grounded in her implementation science and human-centered design training.

PRISE Center Equity and Data Visualization Seminar Series

The San Francisco Bay Collaborative Research Network (SFBayCRN) and the UCSF Impacting Practice and Policy by Accelerating Translation Program (IMPACT) present:

Housing, Labor, and Health Care:

Mapping the Future of Community-Engaged Research and Action

Click the blue buttons below to access event details and registration links

National Institutes of Health

Methods: Mind the Gap Webinar Series

Topic: Optimizing Interventions for Equitability: Some Initial Ideas

April 8, 2:00pm EST

Speakers

Linda M. Collins Ph.D.

New York University School of Global Public Health

Jillian C Strayhorn, Ph.D.

New York University School of Global Public Health

Session Overview: In this webinar, Drs.Collins and Strayhorn first offer a brief introduction to intervention optimization using MOST, and then introduce their preliminary thinking about how MOST might be applied to identify equitable interventions—interventions that, when implemented properly, are not expected to produce intervention-generated inequality.

2024 Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) Conference

Theme: Strategic Synergy: Implementation Research, Practice and Policy for Impact. 

September 27 - 28, 2024

Denver, Colorado

Key Deadlines:

March 19, 2024: Call for submissions opens

April 30, 2024: Deadline for submissions

June 11, 2024: Registration opens

July 19, 2024: Early bird registration ends

August 27, 2024: Hotel reservations due

Please click the buttons below for event details, and to view the call for submissions.

PRISE T32 Implementation Science Methods Speaker Sessions

Speaker: Nicholas Rubashkin, MD, MA, PhD.

Associate Professor of Inpatient Obstetrics, UCSF School of Medicine

Using community-engaged, implementation science to increase equitable uptake of vaginal birth after cesarean in California: laying the groundwork for a multi-level intervention

Tuesday, April 23rd

3pm - 4pm PST

Online/Zoom

NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Funding Announcements

These FOAs encourage investigators to submit research grant applications that will identify, develop, test, evaluate and/or refine strategies to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices into public health, clinical practice, and community settings. In addition, studies to advance dissemination and implementation research methods and measures are encouraged. These FOAs expire in 2025. Check notice for details.

R01 Research Project Grant

R03 Small Grant Program

R21 Exploratory/Development Research Grant Award

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Dissemination and Implementation Funding Initiatives

PCORI currently offers three funding opportunities to support projects that facilitate the uptake and integration of evidence from PCORI-funded studies, in the context of related evidence, into real-world practice.

PFAs Open January 9, 2024

Letter of Intent due February 6, 2024 by 5pm EST

Applications due May 7, 2024 BY 5pm EST

PCORI Virtual Applicant Town Halls for Upcoming Research Funding Opportunities

PCORI plans to host virtual town halls that are geared towards future applicants who are interested in learning more about upcoming funding opportunities. Please see below for some relevant town halls, and links to register for each session.

Phased Large Awards for Comparative Effectiveness Research (PLACER) - May 13, 2024

Advancing the Science of Engagement in Research - May 15, 2024

Broad Pragmatic Studies - May 17, 2024

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) pre-announcement call: Implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of non-communicable diseases

This call focuses on implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income countries and/or disadvantaged populations in high-income countries.

Application portal now open

First stage proposals due May 15, 2024

First stage proposal outcomes August 23, 2024

Second stage proposals due (invitation only) October 3, 2024

PRISE Center Co-Director, Dr. Margaret Handley joins the Science podcast and shares about a rare instrument, a fern mandolin, and its connection to her public health work in homelessness. Listen to the episode here: The effects of a rare mandolin on a scientists career.

Pictured above: a fern mandolin in its carrying case.

Handley MA, The fern mandolin. Science 383,1425-1425(2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adn4676

Hayes S, Duan KI, Wai TH, Picazo F, Donovan LM, Spece LJ, Plumley R, Slatore CG, Thakur N, Crothers K, Au DH, Feemster LC. Association Between Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Prevalence Among U.S. Veterans. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Jan 22. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202308-668RL. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38252425.

Hickey MD, Grochowski J, Mayorga-Munoz F, Oskarsson J, Imbert E, Spinelli M, Szumowski JD, Appa A, Koester K, Dauria EF, McNulty M, Colasanti J, Havlir DV, Gandhi M, Christopoulos KA. Identifying Implementation Determinants and Strategies for Long-Acting Injectable Cabotegravir-Rilpivirine in People with HIV Who Are Virally Unsuppressed. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2024 Mar 27. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000003421. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38534179.

Nanyunja G, Kadota JL, Namale C, Hudson M, Nalugwa T, Turyahabwe S, Cattamanchi A, Katamba A, Muhumuza P, Shete PB. Feasibility of a social protection linkage program for individuals at-risk for tuberculosis in Uganda. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023 Dec 8;3(12):e0002122. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002122. PMID: 38064449; PMCID: PMC10707648.

Narayan A, Hong AS, Nguyen OK. Policy in clinical practice: Impact of restoring the 1999 public charge rule on healthcare access for noncitizen immigrants. J Hosp Med. 2024 Mar;19(3):215-218. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13296. Epub 2024 Feb 15. PMID: 38358059.

Nijagal MA, Khoong EC, Sherwin EB, Lance E, Saleeby E, Williams AP, Thomas MR. Perinatal Community Health Workers: Lessons From California, Health Affairs Forefront, March 12, 2024. DOI: 10.1377/forefront.20240306.53450

Keuroghlian AS, Marc L, Goldhammer H, Massaquoi M, Downes A, Stango J, Bryant H, Cahill S, Yen J, Perez AC, Head JM, Mayer KH, Myers J, Rebchook GM, Bourdeau B, Psihopaidas D, Chavis NS, Cohen SM. Correction: A Peer-to-Peer Collaborative Learning Approach for the Implementation of Evidence-Informed Interventions to Improve HIV-Related Health Outcomes. AIDS Behav. 2024 Mar 4. doi: 10.1007/s10461-024-04296-0. Epub ahead of print. Erratum for: AIDS Behav. 2024 Feb 10;: PMID: 38436808.

Swetlitz N, Hinton L, Rivera M, Liu M, Fernandez AC, Garcia ME. Barriers and facilitators to depression care among Latino men in a primary care setting: a qualitative study. BMC Prim Care. 2024 Jan 20;25(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02275-x. PMID: 38245674; PMCID: PMC10799470.