In a new study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Alissa Davis and Madison Bogard will investigate whether a digital survivor crowdsourced intervention can increase HIV/STI/HCV testing and overdose prevention kit utilization among survivors of sex trafficking living in New York City. Over the study's 3-year duration, the team will use crowdsourcing, a type of citizen science, to create digital messages to promote HIV/STI/HCV testing uptake and the use of overdose prevention services for substance use among sex trafficking survivors.
Survivors of sex trafficking have among the highest rates of HIV/STIs/HCV and substance use disorder (SUD), yet they face substantial barriers to care. In addition, there is a lack of public health messaging tailored specifically for survivors of sex trafficking, and existing messaging can be stigmatizing. Citizen science approaches (where community members are involved in the design and conduct of studies to develop solutions) can be used to engage survivors in developing tailored messaging to promote HIV/STI/HCV testing, overdose prevention, and treatment utilization.
Complementing this, specimen self-collection with remote HIV/STI/HCV testing and online delivery of overdose prevention kits to survivors may also increase use of needed healthcare services. In this study, we will work with survivors to 1) develop crowdsourced digital messages to promote HIV/STI/HCV testing uptake and utilization of overdose prevention services, and 2) compare the survivor-crowdsourced HIV and substance use intervention to existing public health messaging in a randomized controlled trial.
For this study, researchers are collaborating with survivors of sex trafficking, including through the National Survivor Network, Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (NYC DOHMH) Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections and the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment, the New York City Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, STEPS to End Family Violence, and Diagnostics Your Way.