Abstract
The HPTN 065 (TLC-Plus) study tested the feasibility and effectiveness of using financial incentives (FIs) to increase linkage to care (L2C) among individuals with newly diagnosed HIV and those out of care in the Bronx, NY and Washington, DC. Qualitative data collection with a subset of participating patients and staff focused on experiences with and attitudes about the FI intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 patients and 14 site investigators. Four focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 15 staff members. The use of FIs for L2C was generally viewed favorably. Patients were grateful and benefited financially, but sites had some challenges implementing the program. Challenges included the timing and sensitive introduction of the intervention immediately after an HIV diagnosis, negative attitudes towards paying people for health behaviors, and the existence and strength of existing linkage programs. Future programs should consider optimal timing and presentation of FIs.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0191638 |
| Journal | PloS one |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2018 |
Funding
The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 065 qualitative substudy was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Cooperative Agreements #UM1 AI 068619. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors [VS, JT, EG, JS, AP, ET and WME], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAID, NIMH, NIDA or NIH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We would like to thank the qualitative data collectors, Abby Krumholz, Althea Anderson, Dionne Otey, Emelda Curry, Ivonne Rivera, Venton Jones and Yanoh Jalloh for working diligently to conduct the interviews and focus group discussions, as well as the patients, investigators, staff, and study sites who participated in the qualitative substudy and the HPTN 065 parent study. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the entire HPTN 065 protocol team, under the leadership of Drs. Wafaa M. El-Sadr and Bernard M. Branson, whose members can be viewed at https://hptn.org/research/studies/77.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General
