The Development of a Counseling-Based HIV Prevention Intervention for African American Men Who Have Sex With Men and Women: The Bruthas Project.

African American men who have sex with both men and women (AAMSMW) are at high risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV, yet few interventions exist to address their unique prevention needs. We conducted 3 focus groups, 21 in-depth interviews, and a pilot test of our intervention with = 61 AAMSMW, which showed significant reductions in sexual risk behavior after 6 months. The intervention is currently being tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We discuss the development of a culturally tailored, theoretically grounded counseling intervention for AAMSMW, presenting findings from our formative research, intervention development process, pilot study, and the implementation of our RCT. We describe the content of each session, our protocol for merging Bruthas with HIV testing, and best practices for recruiting AAMSMW. If Bruthas is found to be efficacious, the intervention will reach a vulnerable population to encourage uptake of regular HIV testing and reduced sexual risk taking.