Projects
Primary and secondary analyses to explore social determinants of health and their correlates and mechanisms
We are employing quantitative and qualitative data-analytic tools to answer research questions related to how individual, social, and structural determinants of health, such as stigma and poverty, affect individual health behaviors as well as mental and physical health outcomes. These tools include structural equation modeling, latent profile analysis, dyadic data analysis, longitudinal analyses such as generalized least squares regression with maximum likelihood and linear mixed models, and thematic and comparative qualitative analyses. Sample data include the following:
Primary data
We are analyzing qualitative data on ways of reaching Black sexual minority men who are in HIV care and who have fallen out of HIV care in the San Francisco Bay Area; these data were collected under the auspices of a University of California, San Francisco pilot award for which Dr. Vincent was a principal investigator
Dr. Vincent is co-investigator on a University of California, Los Angeles pilot award and a NIDA R21 grant that fund studies examining factors associated with engagement in HIV care and the impact of COVID-19 for Black sexual minority men living with HIV in Texas
Secondary data
Exploring biopsychosocial factors and outcomes for stimulant-using sexual-minority men living with HIV
Studying HIV-related risk and resilience in a diverse sample of people who inject drugs recruited as part of the National Health Behavior Survey in San Francisco, CA
Examining health, resilience, and risk for heterosexual black men in Washington, DC
Investigating health, resilience, and risk for Black sexual minority men at risk of HIV infection in Texas
Investigating biological mechanisms within a multilevel, biopsychosocial approach
We study the intraindividual, biological substrates of stigma and other individual, social, and structural determinants of health. For example, in a sample of HIV-positive, stimulant-using sexual-minority men collected by a colleague, we showed that being out as a sexual minority was inversely associated with levels of an amino acid precursor to serotonin for Black and Latino, but not White, men. Although being out is typically considered protective, findings suggested that it may pose challenges for them as sexual minorities within their cultural communities and as racial and ethnic minorities within the mainstream, predominantly White gay communities. We will be collecting data for new studies examining similar themes in samples recruited at Temple University and from communities in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
Intervention development to address health outcomes in vulnerable populations
A central focus of our ongoing research is to develop interventions that apply what we already know and what we discover. For example, Dr. Vincent's NIMH-funded Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Grant study involves the development of a combination in-person and text-messaging intervention to address barriers to retention in HIV care within a social-ecologically informed, theory-guided framework for Black sexual minority men living with HIV. We plan to use preliminary data from this study to develop a randomized controlled trial.