By Erin Jester
Gabriel Costa, a first-year public health Ph.D. student in social and behavioral sciences at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, presented his analytical work, titled “Spirituality, drugs, and protection: A preliminary analysis of how spiritual meaning shapes substance use and PrEP uptake among Latino MSM,” at the fourth annual Florida Harm Reduction Conference.
The conference, held Jan. 26 to 29 in St. Petersburg, supports the Florida Harm Reduction Collective’s mission to transform public health by connecting Floridians who use drugs or have lived experience with drug use to vital services.
Costa’s research examines how spiritual meaning-making shapes stimulant use, sexual decision-making and HIV prevention behaviors, including pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, among Latino men who have sex with men. His poster presentation represented an early phase of a larger qualitative project examining spirituality, substance use and HIV prevention among Latino sexual minority communities.
“Spiritual frameworks often shape how individuals interpret drug use, health and protection in ways that are not always captured by traditional biomedical or behavioral models,” Costa said. “Understanding these dynamics can help inform more culturally responsive, nonjudgmental harm reduction and HIV prevention interventions that align with participants’ lived experiences rather than working against them.”
The ongoing research is affiliated with the COLECTIVO Lab and is led by José Colón-Burgos, Dr.P.H., an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health, with collaboration from lab members Caelan Hook, Roselyn Davour, Luis Gonzalez-Diaz and Heather Mendez.