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CompletedNCT03665532YESUpdated Sep 29, 2021

Youth Engagement Study: Intervention to Increase HIV Treatment Engagement and Adherence for Young People Living With HIV

An interventional study of Youth Engagement in Services in HIV/AIDS, sponsored by University of Connecticut. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 16 Years to 35 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-09-29.

Sponsored by University of Connecticut · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
400
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
16 Years to 35 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This pragmatic adaptive clinical trial will test the effects of a Stigma-Motivational-Decision intervention designed to increase HIV treatment engagement, retention, and medication adherence for substance using adolescents and young adults (AYA) living with HIV who are not in clinical care. The intervention uses a uniquely unified counseling approach at multiple points along the HIV continuum of care. The trial will use multiple modes of outreach including social media, passive media, clinic records, and chain referrals to seek and identify HIV positive AYA who are HIV untreated, under-dosed, or unsuppressed (HIV-U3). Participants will receive phone-delivered Stigma-Motivational-Decision counseling intervention sessions to achieve engagement or re-engagement in HIV care, treatment adherence and control of their HIV infection. Once viral control is achieved, participants will receive a low-cost approach to sustaining long-term retention in care and medication adherence.

Read the detailed description

This pragmatic adaptive clinical trial will test the effects of a Stigma-Motivational-Decision intervention designed to increase HIV treatment engagement, retention, and antiretroviral (Art) medication adherence for substance using adolescents and young adults (AYA) living with HIV who are not in clinical care. The intervention uses a uniquely unified counseling approach at multiple points along the HIV continuum of care. In a first step, the study will use multiple modes of outreach including social media, passive media, clinic records, and chain referrals to seek and identify HIV positive AYA who are HIV untreated, under-dosed, or unsuppressed (HIV-U3). Identified AYA will be enrolled in a run-in to the trial to objectively confirm the following criteria for trial entry. In Step 2, Individuals who meet entry criteria -specifically - substance using HIV-U3 AYA - will be enrolled in a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to address substance use, HIV stigmas, medical care-related concerns, structural barriers, and other challenges to engaging youth in HIV care. Counseling will be provided weekly by cellphone until the time participants are receiving ART, adequately dosed on ART, and HIV suppressed within a maximum of 12 sessions (up to 3-months). The study will therefore determine the number of theory-based mHealth intervention sessions needed (minimally effective dose) for optimal treatment outcomes and the associated costs. Once engaged and optimally treated, Step 3 will conduct a randomized trial to test the comparative effects and cost effectiveness of two interventions to sustain long-term retention in care and medication adherence: (a) interactive text messaging with opportunities for ongoing supportive problem solving vs. (b) passive text message reminders. HIV positive AYA are likely to drop out of care because of known challenges such as substance use, social barriers such as stigma, and concerns regarding treatment. The 3-step study will use a single theory-based approach to determine the number of phone-delivered Stigma-Motivational-Decision counseling intervention sessions necessary to achieve engagement or re-engagement in HIV care, and will test the effects of a low-cost approach to sustaining long-term retention in care and medication adherence. The study will determine the minimally effective amount of counseling needed to engage substance using HIV positive AYA in care. The study will also test the effects of the counseling and text messaging interventions on maintaining HIV care retention, medication adherence, and HIV viral suppression over 18-months. The study will perform economic evaluations to determine the cost-effectiveness of the engagement-retention-adherence intervention and the effects of low-burden retention/adherence interventions to maintain retention in care and avoid relapse to non-adherence for AYA living with HIV.

02

Conditions studied

03

In context

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

2,040 studies on the registry are indexed under Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; 272 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 400 is above the median of 105 across 1,543 interventional studies indexed under Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

Browse Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Connecticut is the lead sponsor of 133 studies on the registry; 17 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
16 Years to 35 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Age between 16 years and 35 years
  • HIV positive
  • At least one of the following:

    • Active substance using
    • HIV untreated
    • Under-dosed with ART
    • HIV viral unsuppressed

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not HIV positive
  • Younger than 16
  • Older than 35 years of age
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
400 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Interactive 2-way texting

    Biweekly text message communications with counselors for problem solving

    Behavioral: Youth Engagement in Services

  • Active comparator
    Passive text reminders

    Automated weekly text message health care reminders

    Behavioral: Youth Engagement in Services

Interventions

  • BehavioralYouth Engagement in Services

    Brief phone coaching to enhance engagement, retention, and sustain adherence to HIV and substance use services for younger people living with HIV.

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. HIV suppression

    Blood plasma derived HIV RNA

    Time frame: up to 15 months after the baseline.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Medication Adherence

    Antiretroviral medication adherence assessed by unannounced phone pill counts

    Time frame: up to 15 months after the baseline.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Southeast HIV/AIDS Research & Evaluation Project
    Atlanta, Georgia 30303, United States
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References and documents

Publications

  • Kalichman SC, Eaton LA, Kalichman MO. Believing That It Is Hazardous to Mix Alcohol With Medicines Predicts Intentional Nonadherence to Antiretrovirals. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2022 Jun 1;90(2):208-213. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002933. PubMed 35125476 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 29, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03665532
Lead sponsor
University of Connecticut
Collaborators
Mercer University
Responsible party
Seth Kalichman (Professor, University of Connecticut) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 11, 2018
Start date
Jul 1, 2017
Primary completion
Feb 1, 2020
Completion
Jun 30, 2021
Last update
Sep 29, 2021

Study contacts

Seth C Kalichman, PhD
principal investigator · University of Connecticut

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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