Participate

Our study is enrolling women living with and without HIV. This is our general eligibility criteria:

• You are able to communicate in English
• You are 16 years of age or older
• You currently identify as a woman (inclusive of cis and trans women)
• You are able to attend an in-person study visit at BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver
• You are not pregnant and not breastfeeding

At this stage of recruitment, we have slightly different inclusion criteria by HIV status to meet our goals on enrolling a diverse and representative sample of participants. Please contact us if you meet any of the following criteria:

• You are a woman (cis and trans inclusive) living with HIV
• You identify as African, Caribbean and/or Black
• You identify as a transwoman

Clinical Study Visit

The first visit will be in person at BC Women’s Hospital and will include:

• Body measurements: height, weight, blood pressure, and waist circumference.
• Sample collection: blood sample, mouth swab, urine sample, an optional hair sample (for stress test), and an optional rectal swab (for microbiome test).
• Questionnaire, which includes questions on demographics, medical history, reproductive health, and substance use history.

* As we are interested in hormone health, if you have menstrual periods and are not using a hormonal contraceptive, we will be testing for hormones that require your blood draw to be timed to your menstrual cycle at two different times. One draw will be timed you’re your clinical visit, and the second draw will require an additional visit, which you will receive $25 for.

Participants will receive $50 in honoraria for the clinical visit

Community Study Visit

This second visit will be online or over the phone, and must take place within one month after the clinical visit. The community visit will be led by a trained Community Research Associate and will include a continuation of the questionnaire with questions on social determinants of health such as social support, sleep, sexual health, violence, and resilience.

Participants will receive $40 in honoraria for the community visit.

To see how the study works, check out our “Journey through the BCC3 Study” video.