U-M School of Nursing study explores innovative ways to increase HIV testing among transgender youth

Transgender individuals are over three times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than cisgender individuals, and rates of other sexually transmitted infections are significantly higher in transgender individuals compared to cisgender individuals.

Despite these statistics, transgender youth have low rates of engagement in HIV prevention, shaped in part by experiences of transphobia and lack of access to culturally competent care. A new study led by U-M School of Nursing Professor Rob Stephenson, MSc, Ph.D., examined whether a unique intervention that provides home-based HIV self-testing with video chat counseling can help transgender youth overcome the structural and interpersonal barriers that prevent them from HIV testing and preventative care.

Read the full paper, “Project Moxie: Results of a Feasibility Study of a Telehealth Intervention to Increase HIV Testing Among Binary and Nonbinary Transgender Youth,” which was recently published in Aids and Behavior.