The influence of psychosocial difficulties on women's attrition in an HIV/STD prevention program

Applying Behavioural Insights to HIV Prevention and Management: a Scoping Review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This scoping review summarises the literature on HIV prevention and management interventions utilizing behavioural economic principles encapsulated in the MINDSPACE framework.

RECENT FINDINGS

MINDSPACE is an acronym developed by the UK's behavioural insights team to summarise nine key influences on human behaviour: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Default, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitment, and Ego. These effects have been used in various settings to design interventions that encourage positive behaviours. Currently, over 200 institutionalised behavioural insight teams exist internationally, which may draw upon the MINDSPACE framework to inform policy and improve public services. To date, it is not clear how behavioural insights have been applied to HIV prevention and management interventions. After screening 899 studies for eligibility, 124 were included in the final review. We identified examples of interventions that utilised all the MINDSPACE effects in a variety of settings and among various populations. Studies from high-income countries were most common (n = 54) and incentives were the most frequently applied effect (n = 100). The MINDSPACE framework is a useful tool to consider how behavioural science principles can be applied in future HIV prevention and management interventions. Creating nudges to enhance the design of HIV prevention and management interventions can help people make better choices as we strive to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030.

Integrating Individual and Contextual Factors to Explain Disparities in HIV/STI Among Heterosexual African American Youth: A Contemporary Literature Review and Social Ecological Model

Heterosexual African American youth face substantial disparities in sexual health consequences such as HIV and STI. Based on the social ecological framework, the current paper provides a comprehensive, narrative review of the past 14 years of literature examining HIV/STI risk, including risky sexual behavior, among heterosexual African American youth and a conceptual model of risk among this population. The review found that individual psychological and biological factors are insufficient to explain the sexual health disparities faced by this group; instead, structural disadvantage, interpersonal risk, and community dysfunction contribute to the disparity in HIV/STI outcomes directly and indirectly through individual psychological factors. The conceptual model presented suggests that for African American youth, (1) HIV/STI risk commonly begins at the structural level and trickles down to the community, social, and individual levels, (2) risk works in a positive feedback system such that downstream effects compound the influence of structural risks, and (3) contextual and individual risk factors must be considered within the advanced stage of the epidemic facing this population. Despite advanced HIV and STI epidemics among heterosexual African American youth, multisystemic interventions that target structural risk factors and their downstream effects are posited to reduce the disparity among this high-risk population.

A role for depression in sexual risk reduction for women? A meta-analysis of HIV prevention trials with depression outcomes

Rates of HIV/AIDS and depression in women are significant public health concerns. The current meta-analysis tested the hypothesis that depression levels moderate change in sexual risk behavior in women participating in HIV prevention interventions. Features of the interventions were also explored as possible factors in decreasing levels of depression and sexual risk behavior. Included were HIV primary prevention interventions that measured sexual risk behavior and depression at baseline and follow-up and reported separate results for women. Ten studies (fourteen intervention groups and ten control groups; N = 4,195 women) met the inclusion criteria. The majority of participants were African American; mean age was 28-years old. Both depression and sexual risk behavior decreased significantly in treatment and control groups from baseline to follow-up. Sexual risk decreased more to the extent that interventions sampled (a) participants with higher baseline levels of depression, (b) older women, (c) Hispanics/Latinas, and/or (d) members of risk groups (e.g., drug users, homeless). Interventions that included (e) condom provision, (f) information about condoms, and/or (g) HIV counseling and testing were also more successful in decreasing sexual risk. Finally (h), interventions were more likely to reduce sexual risk behavior when they decreased depression to a large extent relative to baseline levels. Interventions were more likely to decrease depression when they (a) had samples of only women, (b) targeted risk groups, and/or (c) provided self-management and coping skills. Reducing depression appears to play a role in decreasing sexual risk behavior, suggesting that interventions should actively address depression.

Community patterns of stigma towards persons living with HIV: a population-based latent class analysis from rural Vietnam

Background

The negative effects of stigma on persons living with HIV (PLHIV) have been documented in many settings and it is thought that stigma against PLHIV leads to more difficulties for those who need to access HIV testing, treatment and care, as well as to limited community uptake of HIV prevention and testing messages. In order to understand and prevent stigma towards PLHIV, it is important to be able to measure stigma within communities and to understand which factors are associated with higher stigma.

Methods

To analyze patterns of community stigma and determinants to stigma toward PLHIV, we performed an exploratory population-based survey with 1874 randomly sampled adults within a demographic surveillance site (DSS) in rural Vietnam. Participants were interviewed regarding knowledge of HIV and attitudes towards persons living with HIV. Data were linked to socioeconomic and migration data from the DSS and latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression were conducted to examine stigma group sub-types and factors associated with stigma group membership.

Results

We found unexpectedly high and complex patterns of stigma against PLHIV in this rural setting. Women had the greatest odds of belong to the highest stigma group (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.42-2.37), while those with more education had lower odds of highest stigma group membership (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.32-0.62 for secondary education; OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.10-0.35 for tertiary education). Long-term migration out of the district (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.4-0.91), feeling at-risk for HIV (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.27-0.66), having heard of HIV from more sources (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.3-0.66), and knowing someone with HIV (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.58-0.99) were all associated with lower odds of highest stigma group membership. Nearly 20% of the population was highly unsure of their attitudes towards PLHIV and persons in this group had significantly lower odds of feeling at-risk for HIV (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.33-0.90) or of knowing someone with HIV (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.22-0.46).

Conclusions

Stigma towards PLHIV is high generally, and very high in some sub-groups, in this community setting. Future stigma prevention efforts could be enhanced by analyzing community stigma sub-groups and tailoring intervention messages to community patterns of stigma.

Traditional sexually transmitted disease prevention and control strategies: tailoring for African American communities

African Americans carry the largest disease burden for bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States. These infections can have a devastating impact on sexual and reproductive health if they are not diagnosed and treated. Traditionally, public health efforts to prevent and control bacterial STDs have been through surveillance, clinical services, partner management, and behavioral intervention strategies. However, the persistence of disparities in STDs indicates that these strategies are not achieving sufficient impact in African American communities. It may be that factors such as limited access, acceptability, appropriateness, and affordability of services reduce the efficacy of these strategies for African American communities. In this article we describe the STD prevention strategies and highlight the challenges and implications of these strategies in addressing disparities in African American communities.

Retention of African-American and White youth in a longitudinal substance use study

The current investigation discusses successful strategies used to retain N = 405 African-American and White target youth in a longitudinal, non-intervention study focused on alcohol and other drug use. Ninety-one percent of youth remained in the study for all 4 years, including 87% of African-Americans and 96% of Whites. In a logistic regression model incorporating age, ethnicity, income, sex, parent/guardian marital status, parent alcohol use, and family cohesion, only sex significantly predicted retention, with girls being more likely to remain in the study compared with boys, although ethnicity neared significance.

Change trajectories in women's STD/HIV risk behaviors following intervention

Three 16-month sexual risk-taking trajectories were identified in 287 women in an STD/HIV intervention study. The Risk Eliminator group reported no sex risk following intervention while the Risk Reducer group reported continuous drops over time. The High Risk group reported higher initial risk than the other two and no subsequent changes. The trajectory groups showed no between- or within-group effects of intervention exposure. Trajectory groups were compared on baseline characteristics. No differences were seen in demographics or STD/HIV knowledge. Compared to one or both of the other groups, the High Risk women reported more lifetime partners, recent paying partners, adult rape, and recent substance use. Their steady partners were more likely to be abusive, intoxicated during sex (as were the women themselves), and believed to be non-monogamous. The Risk Eliminator group differed from the other two by being less likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse.

HIV risk behavior in male and female Russian sexually transmitted disease clinic patients

Russia is experiencing one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. Russian sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic patients are at elevated risk for infection with HIV and other STDs due to unsafe sexual behaviors. Future risk reduction intervention efforts for this group must be grounded in a solid understanding of the factors associated with risky behaviors. We collected information about the sexual behaviors, substance use, protective strategies, and HIV-related attitudes of 400 high-risk men and women presenting at an STD clinic in a major Russian metropolis. Alcohol use in conjunction with sexual activity was common in this sample (85%). One-third of study participants had more than 1 partner in the past 3 months, and about half (48%) of the sample had previously been diagnosed with an STD. However, despite this evidence of high-risk behavior, most participants (67%) reported using condoms less than half the time. High-risk behavior was associated with substance use and lower perceived severity of AIDS. Self-protective strategies differed by gender: men reported higher condom use rates whereas women reported efforts to limit their number of sexual partners. This study has important implications for the development of culturally tailored interventions to help stem the spread of HIV in Russia.

Clinician-delivered intervention during routine clinical care reduces unprotected sexual behavior among HIV-infected patients

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of a clinician-delivered intervention, implemented during routine clinical care, in reducing unprotected sexual behavior of HIV-infected patients.

DESIGN

A prospective clinical trial comparing the impact of a clinician-delivered intervention arm vs. a standard-of-care control arm on unprotected sexual behavior of HIV-infected patients.

SETTING

The 2 largest HIV clinics in Connecticut.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 497 HIV-infected patients, aged > or =18 years, receiving HIV clinical care.

INTERVENTION

HIV clinical care providers conducted brief client-centered interventions at each clinical encounter that were designed to help HIV-infected patients reduce unprotected sexual behavior.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Unprotected insertive and receptive vaginal and anal intercourse and unprotected insertive oral sex; unprotected insertive and receptive vaginal and anal intercourse only.

RESULTS

HIV-infected patients who received the clinician-delivered intervention showed significantly reduced unprotected insertive and receptive vaginal and anal intercourse and insertive oral sex over a follow-up interval of 18 months (P < 0.05). These behaviors increased across the study interval for patients in the standard-of-care control arm (P < 0.01). For the measure of unprotected insertive and receptive vaginal and anal sex only, there was a trend toward a reduction in unprotected sex among intervention arm participants over time (P < 0.09), and a significant increase in unprotected sex in the standard-of-care control arm (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

A clinician-delivered HIV prevention intervention targeting HIV-infected patients resulted in reductions in unprotected sex. Interventions of this kind should be integrated into routine HIV clinical care.