Religious leaders' role in pregnant and breastfeeding women's decision making and willingness to use biomedical HIV prevention strategies: a multi-country analysis.

Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is an established option, and the dapivirine vaginal ring is emerging as a promising strategy for HIV prevention option for women. Because of this, understanding the contextual and cultural factors that will support the increased uptake of these products is crucial. In sub-Saharan Africa, religious leaders may be important stakeholders to involve in product information, education and roll-out. We conducted a sub-analysis of data from 232 participants taking part in the MTN-041/MAMMA study to explore religious leaders' involvement in pregnant and breastfeeding women's health. Study participants viewed biomedicine and spirituality as interlinked and believed that women could seek health-related care from medical experts and turn to faith-based organisations for religious or spiritual needs. Religious leaders were invested in the health of their congregations, endorsed a variety of sexual health strategies, and were eager to learn more about emerging HIV prevention technologies. These data signal the role of religious leaders in supporting their communities, and the importance of involving religious leaders in efforts to roll out new HIV prevention products to facilitate uptake.

Sharing Objective Measures of Adherence to a Vaginal Microbicide Promotes Candor About Actual Use and Bolsters Motivation to Prevent HIV.

Discrepancies between self-reported and actual adherence to biomedical HIV interventions is common and in clinical trials can compromise the integrity of findings. One solution is to monitor adherence biomarkers, but it is not well understood how to navigate biomarker feedback with participants. We surveyed 42 counselors and interviewed a subset of 22 to characterize their perspectives about communicating with participants about residual drug levels, an objective marker of adherence, within MTN-025/HOPE, a Phase 3b clinical trial of a vaginal ring to prevent HIV. When biomarkers indicated low drug levels that mismatched high adherence by self-report, counselors encountered barriers to acceptance and comprehension among participants. However, discrepancies between low self-report and higher drug levels generally stimulated candor. Women recollected times they had not used the product and disclosed problems that counselors thought might otherwise have remained forgotten or concealed. Navigating conversations toward HIV prevention was easier at mid-range drug levels and when women indicated motivation to prevent HIV. Ratings of residual drug level offered a somewhat objective measure of adherence and protection that counselors perceived as meaningful to participants and as a valuable catalyst for broaching conversation about HIV prevention. However, communication about drug levels required that counselors navigate emotional barriers, respond skillfully to questions about accuracy, and pivot conversations non-judgmentally away from numerical results and toward the priority of HIV prevention. Findings suggest a role for biomarker feedback in future clinical trials as well as other clinical contexts where biomarkers may be monitored, to motivate disclosure of actual adherence and movement toward HIV prevention.Clinical Trial Number NCT02858037.

RESUMEN: Discrepancias entre la adherencia auto-reportada y la verdadera a intervenciones biomédicas de VIH pueden comprometer los ensayos clínicos. Una solución es monitorear la adherencia por medio de ensayos biológicos, pero no se entiende bien cómo comunicar estas medidas a los participantes. En MTN-025/HOPE, un ensayo fase 3b de un anillo vaginal para prevenir VIH, encuestamos a 42 consejeros de adherencia y entrevistamos a un subconjunto de 22 para caracterizar sus perspectivas sobre comunicar una medida objetiva de adherencia al anillo, el nivel residual de droga (RDL por sus siglas en inglés). Los consejeros reportaron que los participantes apreciaron la retroalimentación del RDL como una indicación de su protección de VIH. Niveles más altos de droga estimularon euforia y alivio mientras niveles mas bajos resultaron en desilusión. Una postura no crítica y el apoyo a la autonomía de elegir otras alternativas al anillo promovieron divulgación de las razones por la falta de adherencia. Hablar del monitoreo de RDL como "protección" en vez de "adherencia" ayudó a cambiar el enfoque desde resultados numéricos hasta la meta mayor del ensayo de prevenir el VIH. Personalizar la retroalimentación de medidas objetivas de adherencia requiere una conversación cuidadosa para minimizar las actitudes defensivas. La retroalimentación personalizada también se puede implementar de forma que motive la divulgación de la falta de adherencia y evoque un compromiso a prácticas de prevención. Enfatizar las motivaciones de las mujeres a prevenir el VIH, en vez de los resultados numéricos, puede incentivar a los usuarios consistentes a continuar y a los usuarios inconsistentes a usar métodos alternativos de prevención.

Culturally-Based Challenges to and Recommendations for Delivering Adherence Counseling in a Multicultural Biomedical HIV Prevention Trial in Four African Countries.

Research is needed to identify how to effectively tailor evidence-based interventions across cultures with limited resources, particularly for behavioral components in large HIV prevention trials. Through surveys and interviews with counselors of sub-Saharan African women during an open-label microbicide trial (MTN-025), we examined language, education, and cultural barriers in delivering a motivational interviewing-based adherence counseling intervention (i.e., Options Counseling). Counselors encountered an array of barriers, most prominently that participants struggled to comprehend culturally incongruent pictorial guides, such as traffic light images, and to uphold product use when primary partners disapproved. Overwhelmingly, counselors cited the intervention's inherent flexibility as an asset; it encouraged them to tailor language and examples to be more culturally relevant to participants. Future resource-conscious researchers may preemptively offset similar barriers by consulting with communities during intervention development. Similarly, affording counselors flexibility while delivering the chosen intervention may enable them to troubleshoot barriers that arise on the ground.