Adapting and Piloting a Stress Management Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Women Living With HIV

Summary

Women living with HIV have 2-4x higher risk for cardiovascular disease compared to women without HIV, with women living with HIV in the Southern US being particularly at risk. While an increased prevalence of traditional risk factors (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and obesity) partially explain this risk, evidence suggests that increased exposure to structural and social stressors (e.g., poverty, discrimination, and stigma) among women living with HIV in the South negatively contribute to cardiovascular disease disparities through their impact on stress. The Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) program is an effective, evidence-based intervention proven to improve resiliency to environmental stressors and reduce the physiologic responses to stress which contribute to cardiovascular disease. While the SMART program has demonstrated efficacy in a wide range of populations and settings, it has not been designed for or tested among women living with HIV in the South, where unique cultural and faith-based context may diminish the uptake and value of the intervention to mitigate cardiovascular disease risk. The purpose of this study is to adapt the evidence-based SMART program in consideration of the needs and contexts of women living with HIV in the Southern US and pilot the adapted intervention to establish the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the adapted intervention to reduce stress and mitigate cardiovascular disease risk among this population.

Eligibility

Age range

18+ years

Sex

Female

Healthy volunteers

No

Interventions

• Behavioral
  Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program

  The Stress Management and Resiliency Training Intervention is an evidence-based intervention to reduce physiologic responses to stress that may contribute to cardiovascular disease risk. The intervention is typically delivered over an 8-week period and works to decrease stress responses by improving psychological resiliency to structural and social stressors and decreasing sympathetic nervous system activation. Eliciting the relaxation response through meditation, mindfulness, and autogenic training are core components.

• Other
  Usual Care

  Usual social and clinical services provided to patients at the recruiting clinic

Location