A review of HIV-specific patient-reported measures of perceived barriers to antiretroviral therapy adherence: what themes are they covering?

Barriers to adherence to antiretroviral therapy: identifying priority areas for people with HIV and healthcare professionals

BACKGROUND

Challenges to antiretroviral therapy adherence are well-known and continue to be a major hurdle in HIV care. The objective of this paper is to identify barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence that are relevant to HIV care from the perspective of people living with HIV and healthcare and social service professionals.

METHODS

This study used an online survey design to collect information from the two groups. A total of 100 areas that covered six domains and 20 subdomains were administered to people living with HIV and care professionals in Canada and France. The survey asked participants to rate the importance of each area for HIV care on a four-point Likert scale. Any areas rated 3 or 4 were considered important and ranked. A Chi-square test was conducted for the difference between the groups, people living with HIV and professionals, and between women and men.

RESULTS

A response rate of 87% (58/66) in Canada and 65% (38/58) was achieved. 15 of 43 (35%) areas were endorsed as important barriers by both groups, across countries and sex-covering subdomains - drug cost coverage, challenging material circumstances, HIV stigma, and privacy concerns, affect, motivation, beliefs, acceptance of HIV, comorbidity, side effects, and demands and organisation of daily life. People living with HIV identified two, and care professionals identified nine, additional areas as important barriers to HIV care across different domains and subdomains.

CONCLUSION

The study identified some common and distinct barriers to ART from the perspective of the people living with HIV and care professionals.

Understanding Disparities in Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Sustained Viral Suppression Among Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White Women in the United States - Medical Monitoring Project, United States, 2015-2019

BACKGROUND

Racial and ethnic disparities in antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and sustained viral suppression (SVS) have been documented among women with HIV. We examined factors that may account for these racial/ethnic differences among women to inform interventions that increase health equity.

METHODS

We used data from the 2015-2019 cycles of the Medical Monitoring Project, a probability sample of U.S. adults with diagnosed HIV. Using logistic regression with predicted marginal means, we calculated weighted prevalence differences (PDs) of ART adherence and SVS among Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White women taking ART. Using modeling with forward stepwise selection, we adjusted PDs for selected variables, including social and structural determinants of health (SDOH) factors, to examine whether magnitude of PDs was attenuated by their inclusion. We assessed relative changes between unadjusted and adjusted PDs.

RESULTS

After adjusting for poverty, transportation needs, health literacy, and gap in health insurance/coverage, the Black-White PD in adherence decreased by 11% (-16.0% to -14.2%). After adjusting for adherence, poverty, type of health insurance, and gap in health insurance/coverage, the Black-White PD in SVS reduced 37% (-7.9% to -5.0%) and was no longer statistically different. The Hispanic/Latina-White PD in adherence reduced 24% (-12.7% to -9.6%) after adjusting for poverty, health literacy, and transportation needs. The unadjusted Hispanic/Latina-White PD in SVS was not significantly different.

CONCLUSION

Racial/ethnic disparities in HIV outcomes among women taking ART were substantially reduced after accounting for SDOH and other factors although differences remained. Structural interventions to improve SDOH are needed to improve health equity for women with HIV.

Safety and efficacy of long-acting intramuscular cabotegravir and rilpivirine in adults with HIV-1 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

BACKGROUND

Current antiretroviral regimens have, for the most part, achieved optimal antiretroviral efficacy and tolerability, transforming HIV infection from a deadly disease into a manageable chronic condition. However, adherence to daily oral drug intake remains an issue, as it is the most important determinant for sustained viral suppression and prevention of the emergence of drug-resistant viral strains. The long-acting injection antiretroviral cabotegravir and rilpivirine combination, a novel drug delivery approach, is about to revolutionise the therapy for people living with HIV. In this protocol, we aim to generate a clinically useful summary of the interventions based on their efficacy.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We searched the literature for eligible studies published from inception up to 16 August 2022 through PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus and ClinicalTrials.gov. Two methodologically trained researchers will select the qualified studies for data extraction independently. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool will be used to assess the risk of bias in included studies. Statistical heterogeneity will be computed by Cochrane X² and I² tests. Sensitivity analysis will be conducted to evaluate the stability of the results. Publication biases will be evaluated by Begg's and Egger's tests. The quality of evidence will be assessed by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system. The RevMan V.5.3 and Stata V.14.0 software will be applied for statistical analyses.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval will not be required for this systematic review because the data used are not linked to the individual patient. The results of this review will be disseminated by being published in a peer-reviewed journal.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42022310414.

Face and content validity, acceptability, feasibility, and implementability of a novel outcome measure for children with life-limiting or life-threatening illness in three sub-Saharan African countries

BACKGROUND

The Children's Palliative Care Outcome Scale (C-POS) is the first measure developed for children with life-limiting and -threatening illness. It is essential to determine whether the measure addresses what matters to children, and if they can comprehend and respond to its items.

AIM

To determine the face and content validity, comprehensiveness, comprehensibility, acceptability and feasibility, and implementability of the C-POS.

DESIGN

Mixed methods (1) Content validation: mapping C-POS items onto an evidence-based framework from prior evidence; (2) Comprehensiveness, comprehensibility, acceptability feasibility, and implementability: qualitative in-depth and cognitive interviews with a purposive sample of children and young people (n = 6), family caregivers (n = 16), and health workers (n = 12) recruited from tertiary facilities in Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda.

RESULTS

(1) C-POS content mapped on to palliative care domains for (a) children (i.e. physical (e.g. symptoms), social (e.g. play/socialize), psychological (e.g. happy)) and (b) families (i.e. psychological (e.g. worry), social (e.g. information), and help and advice). (2) C-POS items were well understood by children and their caregivers, acceptable, and relevant. Completion time was a median of 10 min, patients/caregivers and health workers reported that using the C-POS improved their communication with children and young people. Methodological and content issues included: (i) conceptual gap in the spiritual/existential domain; (ii) further consideration of developmental, age-appropriate items in the social and psychological domains, and (iii) linguistic complexity and difficulty in proxy rating.

CONCLUSION

C-POS items capture the core symptoms and concerns that matter to children and their families. C-POS is feasible, comprehensible, and acceptable for use in clinical settings; areas for further development and improvement are identified.

Content validation of a new measure of patient-reported barriers to antiretroviral therapy adherence, the I-Score: results from a Delphi study

Background

Over a third of people living with HIV (PLHIV) have suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Measures of barriers to ART adherence often lack comprehensiveness. To help manage ART adherence barriers in HIV care, we are developing a new patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) of these barriers (the I-Score).

Methods

We assessed the content validity of 100 items (distinct barriers) to retain only those most relevant to both PLHIV and HIV health/social service providers. A web-based Delphi was conducted in Canada and France, collecting data from December 2018 to October 2019. Items were evaluated on relevance (the combined rated importance and actionability for HIV care of items among both PLHIV and providers); comprehensibility (rated item clarity); comprehensiveness (examined against our conceptual framework); cross-cultural equivalence (based on comparisons by questionnaire language (English, French) and country of residence). Pearson’s chi-square tests were used for comparisons by language, country, gender, and stakeholder group (PLHIV, providers).

Results

Panelists included 40 PLHIV and 57 providers (66% response rate). Thirty-one items were retained based on consensus thresholds for relevance (minimum: 50% for PLHIV, 60% for providers) and showed good comprehensibility and comprehensiveness, when compared to our conceptual framework (representation of: 6/6 domains, 15/20 subdomains). No significant difference in relevance based on language or country was found among retained items, suggestive of cross-cultural equivalence. Among all 100 items, only 6 significant differences on relevance were observed for gender. For 62 items, the relevance ratings of PLHIV and providers differed significantly, with providers showing greater endorsement of all items but one.

Discussion

The Delphi led to a much-needed item reduction. Remaining items highlight the panel’s multidimensional priorities for the PROM on ART adherence barriers, with few, if any, differences by language, country, and gender. While the analyses may lack generalizability and power, the sample size is considered adequate for a PROM validation study.

Conclusion

Retained items showed good content validity. The different patterns of item endorsement observed underscore the utility of engaging multiple stakeholder groups in PROM development for use in clinical practice. The greater endorsement of items by providers versus patients merits further investigation, including the implications of such differentials for measure development.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41687-022-00435-0.

Use of long-acting injectable antiretroviral agents for human immunodeficiency Virus: A review

The development of potent antiretroviral drugs has significantly reduced morbidity and mortality associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection, however, the effectiveness of these medications depends upon consistent daily oral intake. Non-adherence can lead to the emergence of resistance, treatment failure and disease progression. This has necessitated the development of long-acting antiretroviral formulations administrable via an infrequent dosing regimen. Long-acting injectable forms of cabotegravir and rilpivirine have reached various stages in clinical trials both for the treatment and prevention of HIV. Other long-acting agents are at various stages of development. This review evaluates the current research on the development of long-acting injectable antiretroviral agents for the treatment and prevention of HIV.

The positive affect, promoting Positive Engagement, and Adherence for Life (APPEAL) feasibility trial: Design and rationale

OBJECTIVE

To describe development of the Positive Affect, Promoting Positive Engagement, and Adherence for Life (APPEAL) program.

METHOD

APPEAL is intended to increase HIV medication adherence through promotion of positive affect, and was developed through an iterative process involving 6 focus groups (N = 34) that elicited feedback on intervention content, followed by an individually administered prepilot of the entire intervention (N = 7).

RESULTS

Participants provided feedback on important potential moderator variables, including depression, on mode of intervention administration, and on anticipated barriers and benefits to participation. Insights gained were used to finalize study procedures in preparation for a feasibility trial. For the feasibility trial, a total of 80 participants who, in the past 6 months have had at least one plasma HIV RNA >200 copies/mL, will be randomized to receive APPEAL or standard of care (N = 40 per group). Intervention group participants will receive 3 monthly, individually administered sessions, and all participants will have their medication adherence monitored and complete structured interviews at baseline and at 3 and 6 months.

CONCLUSION

The APPEAL program is innovative in that it focuses on promoting self-regulation of positive emotions, an understudied approach to promoting chronic disease self-management behaviors such as HIV medication adherence. Findings from the feasibility trial will gauge suitability of the APPEAL intervention and evaluation methods for subsequent testing in a confirmatory trial and will examine changes in positive affect, the primary mechanism of change targeted in the intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The involvement of people living with HIV in the development of HIV-specific or inclusive health instruments: a mixed methods review

Given recent emphasis on patient engagement in the choice and development of health measures to ensure their relevance, we examined the involvement of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the creation of health measurement instruments that are HIV-specific or inclusive. A mixed studies review was conducted describing: 1) the sampling, recruitment and characteristics of involved PLHIV; 2) the methods and extent of their involvement; and 3) study author characterizations of this involvement. Five databases were searched in November 2015. Content and thematic analyses and a patient engagement framework guided the synthesis. Forty-one studies describing the development of thirty-nine instruments were reviewed. For many instruments, there was no reporting of the sampling method used for PLHIV involvement (87%), the recruitment setting (62%), the number of PLHIV involved (44%) or their characteristics (38%). Focus groups (38%) and interviews (36%) were the most common involvement methods. Involvement typically occurred at the patient engagement level of consultation (79%). Authors primarily characterized involvement as "contributing to instrument development" and, less frequently, as "a collaboration," "integral to instrument development" or "challenging." Patient engagement frameworks and standards for the content validation of patient-reported measures offer resources for systematic reporting, contextualizing involvement, diversifying approaches, and documenting their potentialities.