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Qian SRW, Hassan SA, Scallon AJ, Oyaro P, Brown E, Wagude J, Mukui I, Kinywa E, Oluoch F, Odhiambo F, Oyaro B, Kingwara L, Yongo N, Karauki E, Gao J, Otieno L, John-Stewart GC, Abuogi LL, Patel RC. "After viral load testing, I get my results so I get to know which path my life is taking me": qualitative insights on routine centralized and point-of-care viral load testing in western Kenya from the Opt4Kids and Opt4Mamas studies. BMC Health Serv Res 2022; 22:1540. [PMID: 36528677 PMCID: PMC9758673 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-08593-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viral suppression (VS) is a marker of effective HIV therapy, and viral load (VL) testing is critical for treatment monitoring, especially in high-risk groups such as children and pregnant/postpartum women. Although routine VL testing, via centralized laboratory networks, was implemented in Kenya starting in 2014, optimization and sustainable scale up of VL testing are still needed. METHODS We conducted a mixed methods study to evaluate the impact of higher frequency, point-of-care (POC) VL testing in optimizing VS among children and pregnant/postpartum women on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in five HIV treatment facilities in western Kenya in the Opt4Kids and Opt4Mamas studies. We conducted 68 key informant interviews (KIIs) from December 2019 to December 2020 with children and pregnant women living with HIV, child caregivers, providers, laboratory/facility leadership, and county- or national-level policymakers. Our KII guide covered the following domains: (1) barriers and facilitators to ART use and VS, (2) literacy and experiences with VL in routine care and via study, and (3) opinions on how to scale up VL testing for optimal programmatic use. We used inductive coding and thematic analysis to identify dominant themes with convergent and divergent subthemes. RESULTS Three main themes regarding VL testing emerged from our analysis. (1) Key informants uniformly contrasted POC VL testing's faster results turnaround, higher accessibility, and likely cost-effectiveness against centralized VL testing. (2) Key informants also identified areas of improvement for POC VL testing in Kenya, such as quality control, human resource and infrastructure capacity, supply chain management, and integration of VL testing systems. (3) To enable successful scale-up of VL testing, key informants proposed expanding the POC VL testing scheme, electronic medical records systems, conducting quality checks locally, capacity building and developing strong partnerships between key stakeholders. CONCLUSION The more accessible, decentralized model of POC VL testing was deemed capable of overcoming critical challenges associated with centralized VL testing and was considered highly desirable for optimizing VS for children and pregnant/postpartum women living with HIV. While POC VL testing has the potential to improve VS rates among these populations, additional research is needed to develop strategies for ensuring the sustainability of POC VL testing programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT03820323, 29/01/2019.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shukri A Hassan
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Andrea J Scallon
- Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Irene Mukui
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | | | - Francesca Odhiambo
- Family AIDS Care and Education Services, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Boaz Oyaro
- Kenya Medical Research Institute-CDC, Kisian, Kenya
| | - Leonard Kingwara
- National HIV Reference Laboratory, Kenya Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | | | - Jody Gao
- School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Lindah Otieno
- Family AIDS Care and Education Services, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Grace C John-Stewart
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Lisa L Abuogi
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Rena C Patel
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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Aston S, Denisova K, Hurlbert A, Olkkonen M, Pearce B, Rudd M, Werner A, Xiao B. Exploring the Determinants of Color Perception Using #Thedress and Its Variants: The Role of Spatio-Chromatic Context, Chromatic Illumination, and Material-Light Interaction. Perception 2020; 49:1235-1251. [PMID: 33183137 PMCID: PMC7672784 DOI: 10.1177/0301006620963808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The colors that people see depend not only on the surface properties of objects but also on how these properties interact with light as well as on how light reflected from objects interacts with an individual's visual system. Because individual visual systems vary, the same visual stimulus may elicit different perceptions from different individuals. #thedress phenomenon drove home this point: different individuals viewed the same image and reported it to be widely different colors: blue and black versus white and gold. This phenomenon inspired a collection of demonstrations presented at the Vision Sciences Society 2015 Meeting which showed how spatial and temporal manipulations of light spectra affect people's perceptions of material colors and illustrated the variability in individual color perception. The demonstrations also explored the effects of temporal alterations in metameric lights, including Maxwell's Spot, an entoptic phenomenon. Crucially, the demonstrations established that #thedress phenomenon occurs not only for images of the dress but also for the real dress under real light sources of different spectral composition and spatial configurations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kristina Denisova
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States; New York State Psychiatric Institute, United States; Teachers College Columbia University, United States
| | | | | | | | | | - Annette Werner
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany
| | - Bei Xiao
- American University, United States
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