Description:
2023-2024 Digital Mental Health Lecture Series
The Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs)
Northwestern University, in collaboration with the Society for Digital Mental Health
Speaker: Kathryn Macapagal, PhD, Department of Medical Social Sciences & Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Northwestern University.
Title: Centering LGBTQ adolescents in digital sexual health and HIV prevention research
Join us Tuesday, February 6th at:
Noon to 1pm, Central Time
Register to attend Zoom webinar series.
About our guest speaker:
Kathryn Macapagal, PhD, conducts translational, social-behavioral and implementation research focused on improving the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents and young adults. Her independent research relies on online, technology-based, and community-engaged research methods to understand sexual health and HIV prevention needs of SGM adolescents, and then develop, test, and explore implementation of digital behavioral health interventions to address these needs.
Her recent and ongoing threads of work have 1) examined awareness, knowledge, use, and preferences of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among SGM adolescents and have conducted formative research on developing digital PrEP campaigns for teens; 2) explored use of online spaces including sexual networking applications for sexual and relationship development among SGM teens and its clinical, educational, and technology implications; and 3) developing a text-message based intervention to improve HIV testing and sexual healthcare access among SGM teens. Earlier in her career, she focused on ethical issues in HIV prevention research among SGM adolescents, a topic that is foundational to her current research and that she continues to weave throughout her work.