Prison-Based HIV Partner Notification

University of Illinois

Status: Begins enrollment in 4 months

Conditions: HIV

Treatments: Behavioral: Impart Assisted Partner Notification; Behavioral: Self-Tell Notification

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT07103928

R01MH138246 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

2024-0926

Details and patient eligibility

About

Assisted partner notification (APN) is a voluntary and confidential process that utilizes specially-trained health workers to encourage and assist people diagnosed with HIV to inform their sex and drug use partners about possible shared exposure to HIV. With APN, partners who have come in contact with HIV are notified about exposure and given information to protect themselves from contracting HIV in the future or to begin treatment, if needed.

This study compares two types of HIV partner notification. Incarcerated men with HIV will be recruited as "index participants". Participants in both groups will be encouraged to notify sex and needle-sharing partners with whom they may have shared an HIV exposure before incarceration. All participants have the option to self-notify partners during a prison visitation or telephone call. In addition, participants randomized to an APN Choice group also can opt for anonymous notification by specially-trained APN notifiers that includes contact tracing if needed. As outcomes, we will compare the number of partners in each condition who are notified, HIV tested, diagnosed, and linked to HIV treatment. The study will show if prison-based APN is successful in reaching partners for HIV testing.

Full description

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of Impart, an assisted partner notification (APN) intervention that was developed to increase HIV testing and referral into treatment among the sex and drug use partners of incarcerated people with HIV. Incarcerated people with HIV are assigned randomly to one of two groups. Participants assigned to the Impart Choice condition may choose to inform partners themselves by telephone or in person or they may ask specially-trained nurses and outreach workers to confidentially notify partners and to offer partners HIV testing. Meanwhile, participants assigned to the Standard of Care Self-Tell Notification Only condition will be encouraged to tell their partner(s) themselves, either by phone or in person during a prison visitation. As outcomes, we will compare after six weeks the number of partners in each condition who are notified, HIV tested, diagnosed, and linked to confirmatory HIV testing and treatment After 6 weeks, we will offer outreach-assisted partner notification to any participant who was randomized to or initially chose to notify their partners themselves. Results from the study will provide evidence as to the use of prison-based APN in making partner notification desirable and acceptable to people in prison while also reducing barriers to partner notification and HIV testing for their partners in the community.

Enrollment: 216 estimated patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• HIV-diagnosed
• Sexually active (penile-vaginal or penile-anal) and/or sharing injection equipment during the year before incarceration

Exclusion criteria

• Incarcerated more than 5 years

Trial design

Primary purpose: Screening

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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216 participants in 2 patient groups

Impart Choice of APN or Self-Tell Per Partner

Experimental group

Description:

Participants are assisted to identify partners whom they wish to notify and coached in how to tell their at-risk partners by the end of 6 weeks. Participants may choose per partner between sell-tell notification or having an Impart HIV-trained nurse and community outreach healthcare provider work as a team to locate, notify, and offer HIV testing to their partners.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Tell Notification

Behavioral: Impart Assisted Partner Notification

Self-Tell Notification Only Standard of Care Condition

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants are assisted to identify partners whom they wish to notify and coached in how to tell their at-risk partners by the end of 6 weeks. Participants may choose to tell their partner(s) by telephone, mail, or in-person during visitation at the jail/prison facility. They also may elect to have an Impart counselor present during in-person telling or by telephone to answer any clinical questions that the partner might have.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Tell Notification