Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Secondary Prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus

In this study, investigators propose to randomize 165 human immunodeficiency virus positive patients to one of three 16-week treatment conditions: (1) standard care; (2) standard care + cell phone-based adherence reminders; or (3) standard care + cell phone-based adherence reminders and contingency management. In this latter condition, patients will earn reinforcement for sending in time- and date-stamped self videos of antiretroviral therapy medication ingestion. Primary outcomes will include viral loads and self-report measures of adherence, and effects will be evaluated both during the treatment period and throughout a one-year follow-up. Investigators hypothesize that the cell phone reminder condition will improve adherence relative to standard care, and the cell phone reminder plus contingency management condition will have the best outcomes. Results from this study may have widespread implications for the use of cell phones as a novel technology to improve initial adherence to antiretroviral therapy, thereby reducing the spread of drug resistant human immunodeficiency virus strains to the community.