Patient and clinician perspectives of a remote monitoring program for COVID-19 and lessons for future programs.

COVID Watch is a remote patient monitoring program implemented during the pandemic to support home dwelling patients with COVID-19. The program conferred a large survival advantage. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 85 patients and clinicians using COVID Watch to understand how to design such programs even better. Patients and clinicians found COVID Watch to be comforting and beneficial, but both groups desired more clarity about the purpose and timing of enrollment and alternatives to text-messages to adapt to patients' preferences as these may have limited engagement and enrollment among marginalized patient populations. Because inclusiveness and equity are important elements of programmatic success, future programs will need flexible and multi-channel human-to-human communication pathways for complex clinical interactions or for patients who do not desire tech-first approaches.

"I Know That I Was a Part of Making a Difference": Participant Motivations for Joining a Cure-Directed HIV Trial with an Analytical Treatment Interruption.

Analytical treatment interruption (ATI), defined as a closely monitored clinical pause in antiretroviral therapy (ART), is a core component of many HIV cure-directed clinical studies. ATIs may cause significant physical and psychosocial risks for people living with HIV and, as a result, integrating participant and community perspectives into clinical trial designs that include an ATI is crucial to ensuring a successful and person-centered trial. We conducted semi-structured interviews with participants enrolling in the BEAT-2 cure-directed trial (NCT03588715). Interviews elicited participant motivations and decision-making processes for trial participation along with participants' perceptions of the ATI. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a directed content analysis. Fourteen of 15 trial participants completed interviews. The majority were Black (79%) cisgender male (79%). Participants noted several significant motivating factors contributing to their desire to enroll in the HIV cure-directed clinical trial, the most prominent being a desire to find a cure for HIV and help others in the HIV community. HIV care teams were the most commonly identified resource for patients when making the decision to enroll in the trial, and family, friends, and romantic partners also played a significant role. Altruism was a primary motivation for participation, although participants also shared interest in learning about HIV science and research. Participants had a strong understanding of trial procedures and displayed significant trust in the study team to keep them informed and healthy during their participation. The ATI was a significant source of anxiety for participants. Their primary worry was that their prior antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen would no longer be effective once they resumed ART. Despite these concerns, participants shared considerable excitement for continued participation in the trial and being a part of the search toward an HIV cure.

Patient and clinician perspectives of a remote monitoring program for COVID-19 and lessons for future programs.

COVID Watch is a remote patient monitoring program implemented during the pandemic to support home dwelling patients with COVID-19. The program conferred a large survival advantage. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 85 patients and clinicians using COVID Watch to understand how to design such programs even better. Patients and clinicians found COVID Watch to be comforting and beneficial, but both groups desired more clarity about the purpose and timing of enrollment and alternatives to text-messages to adapt to patients’ preferences as these may have limited engagement and enrollment among marginalized patient populations. Because inclusiveness and equity are important elements of programmatic success, future programs will need flexible and multi-channel human-to-human communication pathways for complex clinical interactions or patients who do not desire tech-first approaches.

Integrating ART adherence support technologies in the care of pregnant and postpartum people with HIV: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: We have a limited understanding on how to best integrate technologies to support antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence in routine HIV care. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with multidisciplinary providers caring for pregnant and postpartum people with HIV and asked providers about their perspectives on utilizing adherence support technologies such as text messages, video check-ins with providers or automated with facial recognition for directly-observed-therapy, signaling pill bottle, and signaling pill to support ART adherence. Each approach generated an adherence report. The interview instrument was guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and included questions on the implementation climate, barriers, and facilitators to the clinical integration of the adherence approach and strategies that could be used to maximize this integration. The order of adherence support technologies was randomized to minimize bias. We used a modified grounded theory to develop the coding structure and two coders applied the codebook to the transcripts after establishing strong inter-rater reliability with 20% of interviews (kappa = 0.82). RESULTS: Between March and December 2020, we conducted 26 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with providers who weighed several factors when considering each approach, including the approach's effect on patient-provider interaction in and outside of the clinic visit, timing for and duration of the approach's utility, threat of disclosing status, and added burden to providers (e.g., needing to act on generated information) or to patients (e.g., needing to hide the signaling pills, responding to text messages). Providers' most preferred approach was text-messages, and the least preferred was the signaling pill. Barriers to acceptability varied by approach and included perceived surveillance, violation of privacy, added time demand for providers, potential inaccuracy of the adherence data generated, and negative impact on the patient-provider relationship, particularly if the approach was perceived as coercive. Payers anticipated regulatory hurdles with unfamiliar approaches, particularly the signaling pill and signaling pill bottle. Facilitators included strengthened therapeutic alliance, predictable reminder mechanisms, and options for customization according to patient preference. CONCLUSIONS: Our study elucidates barriers and facilitators to integrating technology-based adherence support approaches in clinical care to support adherence of pregnant and postpartum people with HIV.

Patient perspectives on states worse than death: A qualitative study with implications for patient-centered outcomes and values elicitation.

BACKGROUND: Seriously ill patients rate several health outcomes as states worse than death. It is unclear what factors underlie such valuations, and whether consideration of such states is useful when making medical decisions. AIM: We sought to (1) use qualitative approaches to identify states worse than death, (2) identify attributes common to such undesirable health states, and (3) determine how participants might use information on these states in making medical decisions. DESIGN: Qualitative study of semi-structured interviews utilizing content analysis with constant comparison techniques. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: We interviewed adults age 65 or older with serious illnesses after discharge home from one of two urban, academic hospitals. Eligible patients were purposively sampled to achieve balance in gender and race. RESULTS: Of 29 participants, 15 (52%) were female, and 15 were white (52%), with a median age of 72 (interquartile range 69, 75). Various physical, cognitive, and social impairments were identified as states worse than death. The most commonly reported attributes underlying states worse than death were perceived burden on loved ones and inability to maintain human connection. Patients believed information on states worse than death must be individualized, and were concerned their opinions could change with time and fluctuations in health status. CONCLUSIONS: Common factors underlying undesirable states suggest that for care to be patient-centered it must also be family-centered. Patients' views on using states worse than death in decision making highlight barriers to using avoidance of such states as a quality measure, but also suggest opportunities for eliciting patients' values.