If you are coming to the office and do not have an appointment,
please phone or email us to make sure that staff will be available that day.
(Please do not book an appointment if you have not received a Recruitment Voucher)
Engage is a voluntary sexual health research study with gay, bi, and queer men, including trans and 2-spirit men and other men who have sex with men, of all HIV statuses. The study is happening in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, with guys aged 16+.
I have received a recruitment voucher: If you have received a recruitment voucher either in hard copy or electronically from someone you know, you can click here to book your appointment now.
If you completed an Engage study visit about a year ago, you are eligible to complete a 1-year follow-up study visit. Contact toronto@engage-men.ca to book your 1-year follow-up study visit. You can also call us at 416-979-5000 ext. 2158 (please follow the operator’s instructions).
I have not received a recruitment voucher: If you have not received a recruitment voucher, you may be eligible to participate as a “seed” participant (click here to determine your eligibility).
Participation begins with a study visit. The visit will take approximately 2-3 hours to complete, and consists of the following:
Our study works by a type of chain recruitment called respondent-driven sampling (or RDS), where participants help recruit other participants by connecting guys from their social and sexual networks to the study. To facilitate this, participants are given 6 unique recruitment vouchers at the end of their study visit for them to pass on to other guys (including trans guys) who they know and who have sex with men.
One year later: Those participants who have given us permission to contact them about other study opportunities will be invited to return for a follow-up study visit, which will be similar to the first study visit but only requires completion of a revised version of the computer survey and repeat STI testing; participants do not have to help recruit other participants for the study, but they can keep doing so if they wish. For HIV-negative participants, the revised computer survey will have some new questions about blood donation policies that affect men who have sex with men.
Participants are given a $50 cash honorarium for their initial study visit and another $50 cash honorarium for their 1-year follow-up study visit. They also have the option of putting some or all of their honorarium money towards draw tickets ($10 each) to enter one or both of the draws that we will be doing on a regular basis for a $250 Best Buy gift card and a $2000 travel voucher.
In addition, as participants pass on their recruitment vouchers to other guys, they will receive an additional $15 for each guy that is successfully referred (for up to 6 guys). This honorarium can also be accepted in cash and/or put towards draw tickets.
Recruitment for the study began in May 2017. Data collection is expected to proceed until the end of 2019.
The Engage Toronto site is led by the following people:
A number of individuals are involved in the execution of day-to-day Engage activities, including working with participants and entering participants’ clinical data into databases for analysis. These individuals include research support staff (Ricky Rodrigues, Joseph Burley, Abbie Parlette, Samer Lazkani, Anna Yeung, Alexandre Schnubb), volunteer research assistants, study nurses (Melissa Ricci, Christopher Draenos, Evan Campbell, Kieran Hart), and post-doctoral fellows (Dr. Syed Noor, Dr. Mark Gaspar, Dr. Shayna Skakoon-Sparling).
Click here to learn more about the Engage team. You can also visit hivprevlab.ca to learn more about the Ryerson University HIV Prevention Lab.
If you have a personal relationship with any of our team members and do not feel comfortable participating in Engage as a result, you do not have to consent to participation. Please use our contact information below to let us know if you have any concerns about working with any of our team members.
Our staff represent a wide range of backgrounds in terms of gender and sexuality, among other aspects of identity. You may work with several different staff members during your study visit, and they are all competent in LGBTQ-affirmative care. In the same way that they are expected to treat you with respect, we ask that you also show them respect during your study visit.
In Toronto, the Engage study is funded by the following organizations:
For more information, check out the other pages on our website and/or visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/EngageToronto. You can also contact us directly:
*Office Hours:
Monday – OFFICE CLOSED
Tuesday – 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Wednesday – 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Thursday – 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Friday – 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Sunday – OFFICE CLOSED
If you are coming to the office and do not have an appointment,
please phone or email us to make sure that staff will be available that day.
OFFICE ALSO CLOSED ON:
Tuesday February 12th
Thursday February 14th
Saturday February 16th
Wednesday February 27th
105 Bond St., Rm. SBB208 (2nd floor) Toronto, ON M5B 1Y3 
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Office Hours:
Mon: Closed Tue: 3-9 pm Wed: 3-9 pm Thu:3-9 pm Fri: 3-9 pm Sat: 10-4 pm Sun: Closed
Telephone: 416-979-5000 ext. 2158
Email: toronto@engage-men.ca
