PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Mobile fishermen and their partners along Lake Victoria in western Kenya are a vulnerable population in need
of improved sexual and reproductive health (SRH)/HIV prevention efforts because of their high mobility, high
HIV prevalence, poor HIV care engagement, and high-risk sexual behaviors such as relationship concurrency
and a local transactional sex economy. Safer conception (SC) is a strategy to prevent HIV transmission and is
an entry point for life-long HIV prevention efforts, but current interventions to improve SC uptake have
neglected to address couple relationship dynamics (e.g. communication skills). This K01 proposal is to support
Dr. Sarah Gutin’s long-term career goal to become an independent social-behavioral scientist conducting
innovative research on engaging couples and promoting male engagement in SRH/HIV prevention services.
To achieve this career goal, and in collaboration with a dedicated mentorship team, Dr. Gutin proposes training
to: 1) gain knowledge of theories and research on the psychology of interpersonal relationships in mobile
populations; 2) develop mixed methods skills to collect, analyze, and integrate dyadic qualitative and
quantitative data; and 3) acquire couples-based behavioral intervention adaptation, implementation, and
analytic skills. The overall research objective is to adapt an innovative couples-based HIV prevention
intervention, ‘Jamii Bora’ and assess the interventions’ potential to promote male engagement for SC among
mobile couples. The specific aims are to: 1) identify dyadic-level barriers and facilitators to male engagement in
SC; 2) adapt the Jamii Bora intervention to improve male engagement in SC among Kenyan fisherfolk; and 3)
assess intervention feasibility, acceptability, and implementation. Dyadic mixed methods will be used in Aim 1
including qualitative in-depth interviews, survey piloting, and a quantitative survey. In Aim 2, Dr. Gutin will
adapt the Jamii Bora couples’ intervention for fishermen and their primary female partners with feedback from
mobile couples and healthcare providers who will take part in separate intervention design workshops. In Aim
3, Dr. Gutin will conduct a preliminary assessment of the adapted intervention to evaluate feasibility and
acceptability. The proposed research will employ an innovative couples-based intervention approach to
improve relationship dynamics (e.g., communication) that are urgently needed to impact mobile couples’ SC
uptake and retention in SRH/HIV services. This integrated training and research plan will prepare Dr. Gutin to
launch an independent research career conducting couples research with varied populations and health
outcomes, and provide preliminary data for a pilot to test the couples’ intervention, followed by a randomized
trial with mobile couples. By focusing on research to improve the relationship context for couples
disproportionately burdened by HIV, it is possible to limit HIV transmission risks and improve long-term uptake
of SRH/HIV preventive behaviors and services.
