Hilary L Surratt, PhD
During this 5-year study, stepped-care adaptive interventions will be deployed in three rural syringe service programs in a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design to test the optimal intervention pathways for HIV PrEP uptake, defined as PrEP initiation (measured by dispensed prescription for oral PrEP) and persistence in PrEP care (measured by refill verification and biomarker confirmation). The study will be accomplished through three Specific Aims. AIM 1: Compare the relative effectiveness of adaptive interventions (AIs) that begin with Peer-led SBCM-PrEP versus those that begin with CDC-PrEP education plus text messaging (TM) on patient-level PrEP care outcomes (initiation and persistence) at 1-, 3- and 6-months; AIM 2: Estimate and rank the effectiveness of four embedded AIs on PrEP care outcomes at 3- and 6-months: (1) CDC-PrEP education, continue TM for responders, add Mobile Outreach for non-responders (NR); (2) CDC-PrEP education, continue TM for responders, add Peer transitional SBCM for NR; (3) Peer-led SBCM-PrEP, continue TM for responders, add Mobile Outreach for NR; (4) Peer-led SBCM-PrEP, continue TM for responders, add Peer transitional SBCM for NR. AIM 3: Across interventions, examine the effects of age, baseline injection frequency, perceived HIV risk, PrEP interest, SSP utilization patterns, and other factors, in predicting PrEP care outcomes at 1-, 3- and 6-months to inform optimally-tailored intervention strategy recommendations.
Kentucky's HIV epidemic displays an especially profound and disproportionate impact among people who inject drugs (PWID): 14.8% of males and 54.2% of females newly diagnosed with HIV in 2021 have an injection drug use-related transmission factor, far exceeding the national average for this exposure category. A central pillar of Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) is the prevention of new HIV infections through scale up of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in key populations, including PWID. For PWID, PrEP uptake remains severely limited, and no evidence-based PrEP interventions specifically targeted f…
Inclusion Criteria: * self-report of at least one occasion of injection drug use in the past month * use of the SSP in the past 30 days * expressed willingness to participate in a multi-session intervention and follow-up * having an indication for PrEP in the past 6 months based on CDC guidelines Exclusion Criteria: * being HIV positive * current PrEP care * self-reported severe renal impairment and/or chronic HBV infection
Two sessions Strengths-Based Case Management intervention adapted for HIV PrEP related educational content delivered to individual clients in the syringe service program setting
1 session PrEP education based on CDC guidelines delivered to individual clients in syringe service program settings
Up to two post-linkage sessions of SBCM delivered by a peer support specialist in a format of the participants' choice (onsite, virtual/phone) in study month 2
Up to two in-person field session visits will be conducted by a peer support specialist for the purpose of offering direct support to arrange joint activities for overcoming identified barriers (e.g., transportation) to PrEP care initiation in study month 2.