The Stroman Effect: Participants in MEN Count, an HIV/STI Reduction Intervention for Unemployed and Unstably Housed Black Heterosexual Men, Define Its Most Successful Elements

Interventionists often prioritize quantitative evaluation criteria such as design (e.g., randomized controlled trials), delivery fidelity, and outcome effects to assess the success of an intervention. Albeit important, criteria such as these obscure other key metrics of success such as the role of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	American journal of men's health Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 1557988320943352
Main Authors:	Bowleg, Lisa, Massie, Jenné S., Holt, Sidney L., Boone, Cheriko A., Mbaba, Mary, Stroman, Wayne A., Urada, Lianne, Raj, Anita
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-07-2020 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC SAGE Publishing
Subjects:	Acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIDS HIV Human immunodeficiency virus Intervention Promoting Men’s Health Equity Qualitative research Success cultural sensitivity HIV/AIDS physiological and endocrine disorders qualitative research sexually transmitted diseases/infections general health and wellness Men’s health interventions research
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Summary:	Interventionists often prioritize quantitative evaluation criteria such as design (e.g., randomized controlled trials), delivery fidelity, and outcome effects to assess the success of an intervention. Albeit important, criteria such as these obscure other key metrics of success such as the role of the interactions between participants and intervention deliverers, or contextual factors that shape an intervention’s activities and outcomes. In line with advocacy to expand evaluation criteria for health interventions, we designed this qualitative study to examine how a subsample of Black men in MEN Count, an HIV/STI risk reduction and healthy relationship intervention with employment and housing stability case management for Black men in Washington, DC, defined the intervention’s success. We also examined the contextual factors that shaped participation in the study’s peer counseling sessions. We conducted structured interviews with 38 Black men, ages 18 to 60 years (M = 31.1, SD = 9.33) who completed at least one of three peer counseling sessions. Analyses highlighted three key themes: (a) the favorable impact of Mr. Stroman, the lead peer counselor, on participants’ willingness to participate in MEN Count and disclose their challenges—we dubbed this the “Stroman Effect”; (b) the importance of Black men intervention deliverers with relatable life experiences; and (c) how contextual factors such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, needs for housing and employment services and safe spaces to talk about challenges, and absentee fathers shaped participation. We discuss the study’s implications for sustainable programs after funding ends and future multilevel health interventions to promote health equity for poor urban Black men.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1557-9883 1557-9891
DOI:	10.1177/1557988320943352