Background: Black cisgender gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men (SMM) and transgender women (TW) continue to be heavily affected by HIV. Further research is needed to better understand HIV prevention and care outcomes in this population. In particular, there is a need for research examining the impact of substance use and sleep health on HIV prevention and treatment outcomes among Black SMM and TW. Objective: This paper outlines the study methods being used in the recently launched follow-up study to the Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) study, which we refer to as N2 Part 2 (N2P2). N2P2 aims to address this gap in the literature, build off the findings of the original N2 study, and identify socioenvironmental determinants of health, including whether neighborhood and network factors mediate and moderate these relationships. Methods: Building on the N2 cohort study in Chicago from 2018 to 2022, N2P2 used a prospective longitudinal cohort design and an observational-implementation hybrid approach. With sustained high levels of community engagement, we aim to recruit a new sample of 600 Black SMM and TW participants residing in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area. Participants are asked to participate in 3 study visits across an 18-month study period (1 visit every 9 months). Four different forms of data are collected per wave: (1) an in-person survey, (2) biological specimen collection, (3) a daily remote ecological momentary assessment for 14 days after each study visit, and (4) data from electronic health records. These forms of data collection continue to assess neighborhood and network factors and specifically explore substance use, sleep, immune function, obesity, and the implementation of potential interventions that address relevant constructs (eg, alcohol use and pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence). Results: The N2P2 study was funded in August 2021 by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (R01DA054553 and R21DA053156) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL160325). This study was launched in November 2022. Recruitment and enrollment for the first wave of data collection are currently ongoing. Conclusions: The N2P2 study is applying innovative methods to comprehensively explore the impacts of substance use and sleep health on HIV-related outcomes among an HIV status–neutral cohort of Black SMM and TW in Chicago. This study is applying an observational-implementation hybrid design to help us achieve findings that support rapid translation, a critical priority among populations such as Black SMM and TW that experience long-standing inequities with regard to HIV and other health-related outcomes. N2P2 will directly build off the findings that have resulted from the original N2 study among Black SMM and TW in Chicago. These findings provide a better understanding of multilevel (eg, individual, network, and neighborhood) factors that contribute to HIV-related outcomes and viral suppression among Black SMM and TW.
Background: Social network data are essential and informative for public health research and implementation as they provide details on individuals and their social context. Objective: We aimed to generate a more complete sociocentric-like “fuzzy” network by harmonizing alternative sources of egocentric and digital network data to examine relationships between participants in the N2 cohort study. Further, we propose to examine network peer effects of status neutral HIV care continuum cascade. Methods: Data were collected from January 2018 to December 2019 in Chicago, Illinois, US from a community health center and via peer referral sampling as part of the Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) Cohort Study, comprised of Black sexually minoritized men and gender expansive populations. Participants provided sociodemographics, social networks, sexual networks, mobile phone contacts, and Facebook friend list data. Lab-based information about HIV care continuum cascade was also collected. We used an experimental approach to develop and test a fuzzy matching algorithm to construct a more complete network across confidant, sexual, Facebook, and phone networks using R and Excel. We calculated social network centrality measures for each of these networks and then described the HIV care continuum within the context of each network. We then used Spearman’s correlation and a network autocorrelation model to examine social network peer effects with HIV status and care engagement. Results: A total of 412 participants resulted in 2,054 network connection (ties) across all confidant, sexual, phone, and Facebook networks - reaching the entire study sample in one fully connected “fuzzy” network. Results from the network autocorrelation model suggest that participants who were proximate to network members who were engaged in care were significantly more likely to be engaged in care (significant at p<0.05). Conclusions: Using alternative sources of network data allowed us to fuzzy match a more complete network: fuzzy matching may identify hidden ties among participants which were missed by examining alternative sources of network data separately. Although sociocentric studies may be complex, more complete sociocentric-like networks may be generated using a fuzzy match approach that leverages peer referral, egocentric networks, and digital networks. Enriching offline networks with digital network data may provide insights into characteristics and norms that traditional egocentric approaches may not be able to capture.