A Dyadic Behavioral Intervention to Optimize Same Sex Male Couples’ Engagement Across the HIV Care Continuum: Development of and Protocol for an Innovative Couples-based Approach (Partner Steps)

Angela Robertson Bazzi   ^{1 *} , MPH, PhD ;   Kirkpatrick B Fergus   ^{2 *} , BA ;   Rob Stephenson   ^{3, 4 *} , MSc, PhD ;   Catherine A Finneran   ^{5 *} , MPH ;   Julia Coffey-Esquivel   ^{6 *} , MPH ;   Marco A Hidalgo   ^{7, 8, 9 *} , PhD ;   Sam Hoehnle   ^{9 *} , BA ;   Patrick S Sullivan   ^{10 *} , PhD, DVM ;   Robert Garofalo   ^{7, 9, 11 *} , MPH, MD ;   Matthew J Mimiaga   ^{6, 12, 13, 14, 15 *} , MPH, ScD

¹ Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

² School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States

³ The Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

⁴ School of Nursing, Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

⁵ School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States

⁶ The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA, United States

⁷ Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States

⁸ Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States

⁹ Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States

¹⁰ Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States

¹¹ Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States

¹² School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Social Health Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

¹³ School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

¹⁴ Albert Medical School, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

¹⁵ Institute for Community Health Promotion, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

*all authors contributed equally