A Peer-based Mobile-health Intervention to Increase Access & Adherence to Hepatitis C Treatment & HIV Viral Suppression (HCV-TTP)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hepatitis C; Risk Reduction Behavior; HIV

Treatments: Behavioral: Peer Mentor

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02772328

1R01DA040488

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test an intervention designed to train persons who inject drugs (PWID) and are infected with hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV in communication skills to 1) promote new HCV treatment and care 2) risk reduction and 3) recruit their social network members for HIV and HCV testing and linkage to care.

Full description

The investigators propose recruiting 300 HIV/HCV co-infected PWID (i.e. Index participants). Half will be randomly assigned to the experimental condition and half to the equal attention comparison. The experimental intervention will include 8 group sessions that focus on communication to social network members, medical adherence and risk reduction skills, 2 dyad sessions with network members, monthly booster sessions for 6 months, and mHealth cuing of behavior for 6 months. These Index participants will be followed for 24 months (3, 6, 12, 18, & 24 month assessments). Participants who test positive for HCV will be linked to the Johns Hopkins Viral Hepatitis clinic to assess liver function and HCV chronicity and if applicable offered HCV treatment. Additionally, 450 network members will be recruited and will be tested for HIV and HCV and followed longitudinally to examine the social diffusion and social network factors associated with adherence among the Index participants.

Enrollment: 300 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• HCV antibody positive
• HIV antibody positive
• lifetime history of injection drug use
• interrupted HIV care:>3 months since HIV care or detectable viral load
• willingness to participate in group sessions and have conversations with social network members

Exclusion criteria

• participated in a behavioral intervention in prior 2 years

Trial design

Primary purpose: Screening

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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300 participants in 2 patient groups

Peer Mentor

Experimental group

Description:

Individuals in this arm will be trained in communication skills to promote HIV and HCV testing to their social network members, linkage to care and risk reduction behaviors.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Peer Mentor

Neighborhood Matters

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in this arm will view a 15-20 minute video on issues in neighborhoods such as crime and violence, restoring communities and incarceration and discuss their reactions and thoughts.