What experienced HIV-infected lay peer educators working in Midwestern U.S. HIV medical care settings think about their role and contributions to patient care.

This qualitative study examined the role of experienced HIV-infected lay individuals who work in HIV medical care settings as educators. Participants in this study had been in the role an average of 4 years, and referred to their work as "peering," a newly coined verb in the vein of nursing. An overarching theme was that the title "peer educator" captured neither the scope of their work, nor the skill set they contribute to patient care. Peers brought unique contributions to the HIV care team that were vital to encouraging patients to stay engaged in care. Peers felt undervalued and expressed the wish to be "professionalized." Results from this study suggest that peers show promise as behavior change agents who can model healthful behaviors, particularly for newly diagnosed patients or those struggling with engagement in HIV care and adherence to treatment. However, peers need and want more formal training in behavior change science, and peer-led services must become more uniform and readily available to patients across HIV care settings. Research is needed to document the positive impact that peers can have on HIV-related health outcomes and to increased knowledge about the attributes of successful peers.

A randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of motivational counseling with observed therapy for antiretroviral therapy adherence.

This study determined whether motivational interviewing-based cognitive behavioral therapy (MI-CBT) adherence counseling combined with modified directly observed therapy (MI-CBT/mDOT) is more effective than MI-CBT counseling alone or standard care (SC) in increasing adherence over time. A three-armed randomized controlled 48-week trial with continuous electronic drug monitored adherence was conducted by randomly assigning 204 HIV-positive participants to either 10 sessions of MI-CBT counseling with mDOT for 24 weeks, 10 sessions of MI-CBT counseling alone, or SC. Poisson mixed effects regression models revealed significant interaction effects of intervention over time on non-adherence defined as percent of doses not-taken (IRR = 1.011, CI = 1.000-1.018) and percent of doses not-taken on time (IRR = 1.006, CI = 1.001-1.011) in the 30 days preceding each assessment. There were no significant differences between groups, but trends were observed for the MI-CBT/mDOT group to have greater 12 week on-time and worse 48 week adherence than the SC group. Findings of modest to null impact on adherence despite intensive interventions highlights the need for more effective interventions to maintain high adherence over time.

Adapting effective narrative-based HIV-prevention interventions to increase minorities' engagement in HIV/AIDS services.

Disparities related to barriers to caring for HIV-positive and at-risk minorities continue to be a major public health problem. Adaptation of efficacious HIV-prevention interventions for use as health communication innovations is a promising approach for increasing minorities' utilization of HIV health and ancillary services. Role-model stories, a widely-used HIV-prevention strategy, employ culturally tailored narratives to depict experiences of an individual modeling health-risk reduction behaviors. This article describes the careful development of a contextually appropriate role model story focused on increasing minorities' engagement in HIV/AIDS health and related services. Findings from interviews with community members and focus groups with HIV-positive minorities indicated several barriers and facilitators related to engagement in HIV health care and disease management (e.g., patient-provider relationships) and guided the development of role-model story narratives.

The patient-provider relationship and adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Four studies completed since 1995 have highlighted the importance of the relationship between the provider and the patient in enhancing adherence behavior. This study extends this work by comparing adherent and nonadherent clients in one high-volume HIV clinic in which the majority of care is provided by nursing staff. The sample comprised 130 clients (108 adherent and 22 nonadherent). Adherence status was determined by clinic staff using established procedures. The indicator of the patient-provider relationship was satisfaction with the care provider as measured within the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. Client groups differed significantly on perception of interpersonal manner of care provider (p =.018), care provider conduct total (p <.001), and quality total (p =.017). These findings are consistent with earlier work and underscore the potential importance of the patient-provider relationship as a focus of care for nurses.