Program of Research

Dr. Zimmerman’s research has spanned over 40 years with focuses on health behavior change, HIV and teen pregnancy prevention, and methods for improving the validity of survey self-reports of sensitive behaviors. Most of his research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.  Several successful intervention studies have been conducted to evaluate adapted versions of a comprehensive sex education curriculum for high sensation-seekers and impulsive decisions-makers in rural and urban U.S. settings, a community-randomized mass media campaign to increase condom use among college age individuals, and a combined alcohol and HIV prevention curriculum designed for secondary school students in economically disadvantaged township schools in South Africa. We have developed a health behavior change theory, the Multiple Domain Model of Behavior Change, which has been tested in the U.S., China and India. Additional work has been done to show the potential use of self-reports of honesty and the Multiple List Technique to improve prevalence estimates of sensitive behaviors such as sexual risk behavior and substance use.  Recent work developed a microeconomic intervention to reduce HIV and violence in transgender women, assess correlates of COVID preventive behaviors and COVID vaccination intentions, and correlates of intentions to receive a potential future HIV vaccine in men who have sex with men.

Current Research

The Collaborative: A Multi-Level Approach to Substance Abuse Treatment & HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Services for Minority Men who Have Sex with Men (MSM).  Role: Evaluation Coordinator. PI: Erise Williams, Williams & Associates, Inc., St. Louis, MO; Funder: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

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