Development and Testing of a Group Clinical Visit Adherence Intervention for HIV+ Women of Color

African American and Latina women comprise about 80% of the approximately 300,000 HIV-positive women in the United States. HIV/AIDS is one of the leading causes of death among African American and Latina women age 20 to 55 years. HIV-positive women of color are disproportionately impacted by poverty and other factors such as substance abuse and mental illness which increase vulnerability to HIV and risk of poor health outcomes (e.g., progression to AIDS and death).

The stages of HIV treatment cascade include linkage to and retention in HIV care, antiretroviral (ARV) utilization, and viral suppression. While all of these stages are important, what has ultimately lengthened life expectancy among HIV-positive persons has been achieving long-term viral suppression by optimizing ARV adherence. Suboptimal ARV adherence is associated with increased risk of progression to AIDS, mortality, and the development of ARV resistance. Recent studies indicate that significant racial and ethnic disparities in ARV adherence persist, with African Americans and Latinos having lower levels of adherence than whites. This disparity is also reflected among HIV+ women, with women of color, and in particular African American women, having significantly lower rates of ARV adherence than white women.

Peer-based health interventions have been shown to affect behavior and improve patient outcomes. For HIV-positive persons, receiving care within a group of peers is associated with decreased levels of shame, HIV-related stigma, and risk behaviors, and increased levels of perceived social support. A group-based approach to care involving peers may be especially important for HIV-positive women of color as HIV-positive women of color may lack positive social support. Consequently, the peer-group dynamic may help not only to normalize living with HIV and provide social support but also to motivate healthy behaviors such as ARV adherence.

Group clinical visits, in which the same group of patients who share a common medical condition receives care simultaneously from a health care provider over time, is a model of care that seeks to take advantage of the peer-group dynamic. This model often includes a clinical assessment, education, and self-management skills development, all in the group setting. It has been utilized in the care of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus and Hepatitis C infection and improves health outcomes. Therefore, guided by an enhanced version of the Social Learning Theory, which posits that people learn not only from their own experiences but from the experiences and actions of others, the investigators will tailor the group clinical visit model to a model of group HIV treatment focused on optimizing ARV adherence.

Use of social media, whereby people interact by creating, sharing, and exchanging content using internet-based technologies, transcends race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Within the arena of health care, its use is becoming increasingly popular. For example, social media is used by persons who may have a common medical condition, such as HIV, to communicate about coping with the disease or taking medications. Among HIV-positive persons, social media may be used to enhance communication and social support; hence, the investigators have incorporated social media as a component of Sisters-GPS.