Rutgers Nursing Magazine - Summer 2020

In 2001, in order to gain entrance to the European Union, Romania decriminalized homosexuality, but, as Lelutiu-Weinberger notes, “people there are still carrying the same old stereotypes”–a state of affairs that keeps the majority of gay and bisexual men fearful of social rejection. To help mitigate both the stigma and its effects, Lelutiu- Weinberger, together with her colleague John Pachankis, PhD, clinical psychologist at the Yale School of Public Health, is involved in a series of grant-funded interven- tions, some of which are already showing positive results. In 2011, for instance, she received a grant [1] to imple- ment a mobile health project, known as MiCHAT, among gay and bisexual men in the U.S. Using instant messaging to provide live counseling in risk reduction, MiCHAT increased condom use and knowledge about HIV, reduced substance use, and showed promise in reducing depression and gender-identity concealment. In 2014, she and Pachankis received funding [2] to tailor MiCHAT to Romania, where the intervention was successful at improving condom use intentions and HIV knowledge and testing and reducing depression and alcohol abuse. R O M A N I A (L-R): Lelutiu-Weinberger (second from right) at Bucharest’s national library with Romanian psychologists Monica Manu and Florentina Ionescu, along with Yale University Associate Professor John Pachankis, her co-principal investigator.