Clinical Research Directory

Partnering With Antenatal Navigators to Transform Health in Pregnancy

The Partnering with Antenatal Navigators to Transform Health in Pregnancy (PATH) study aims to evaluate whether an antenatal patient navigation program improves maternal health, neonatal health, pregnant women's experiences, and health care utilization outcomes among low-income pregnant women and their neonates. Patient navigation is an individualized, barrier-focused, longitudinal, patient-centered intervention that offers support for a defined set of health services. In this randomized controlled trial, pregnant women who are randomized to receive antenatal patient navigation will be compared to pregnant women who are randomized to receive usual care. Navigators will support pregnant women from before 20 weeks of gestation through 2 weeks postpartum. The PATH intervention will be grounded in understanding and addressing factors that influence health and access to care in order to promote self-efficacy, enhance access, and sustain long-term engagement. The main objectives of the study are to: 1. Evaluate whether PATH, compared to usual care, improves maternal health outcomes. We hypothesize the PATH model of antenatal patient navigation for low-income women will reduce the incidence of a composite of adverse maternal outcomes, all of which are known to be increased among women with barriers to care. 2. Evaluate whether PATH, compared to usual care, improves perinatal health outcomes. We hypothesize PATH will reduce the incidence of a composite of adverse perinatal outcomes. We will also investigate neonatal/pediatric health care utilization. 3. Evaluate patient, clinician, navigator, and healthcare system experiences with PATH in preparation for widespread implementation and dissemination of the PATH obstetric navigation model. This aim will be accomplished through investigating patient-reported outcomes, completing qualitative and process mapping interviews with navigated participants, and completing qualitative and process mapping interviews with clinicians, navigators, and health administrators.

Digital Peer-support-based Anti-HIV Stigma Intervention Among Adolescents Living With HIV in Ethiopia

Advances in HIV care and treatment turned a once deadly disease into a chronic condition where people living with HIV, including perinatally HIV acquired children, can now lead a healthy life and live longer with their highly effective antiretroviral therapy. Despite the advancements and successes in HIV care and treatment, HIV-related stigma remained a challenge to people living with HIV and for the provision of the available successful treatment and support. Stigma and discrimination related to HIV infection inhibit health-seeking behaviour, clinical outcomes, physical and psychosocial wellbeing and is a major obstacle for timely diagnosis. Peer support programs to people living with HIV appeared to have improved self-confidence of members and consequently reduced self-stigma and improved their coping ability against external stigma. However, these services are limited in terms of geography owing to lack of adequate financing to cover operational costs for adolescents coming from rural areas and space and facility limitation to accommodate large groups. The eHealth services have potential to provide some of the services offered in the in-person sessions of the peer support group. Despite this important potential of eHealth services, they are underutilized and are not often used to target HIV-related stigma in adolescents living with HIV. The present study will investigate whether the digital peer-support anti-HIV stigma reduces internalized and anticipated stigma among adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) in South Ethiopia. Further, we will explore the health-related outcomes including adolescent's psychological wellbeing, retention in care and sustained viral load suppression.

Structured Peer-delivered ART and Reentry Community Strategy

The overarching goal of this study is to implement a transition community adherence club strategy (Full-SPARCS) for HIV-positive individuals transitioning from correctional to community settings in South Africa. The investigators seek to provide actionable findings to inform policy decisions to contribute to HIV care continuity with this population. The investigators note that effectiveness and scalability often conflict with intervention design; thus, the investigators have proposed testing whether a group approach is effective and the investigators will assess the costs of each component * To compare the effectiveness of Full-SPARCS to care as usual to achieve HIV RNA suppression 6 months following correctional facility release * To assess determinants of implementation of Full-SPARCS * To assess the scalability through costing and cost effectiveness analysis of Full-SPARCS

Nurturing Care Family Navigator

The goal of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to determine whether a 6-month behavioral health intervention with a Nurturing Care Family Navigator (NCFN) improves levels of food security among postpartum low-income Medicaid or uninsured women identified as having very low or low food security in the past 12 months. We hypothesize that a behavioral health intervention applying a multisectoral nurturing care navigation approach facilitating access to health, nutrition, early learning, responsive care, and security and safety resources is likely to decrease levels of maternal-child food insecurity. The main question it aims to answer is: * Does the behavioral health intervention with a Nurturing Care Family Navigator (NCFN) improves levels of food security? Outcome 1: Improve levels of food security * Does the behavioral health intervention with a Nurturing Care Family Navigator (NCFN) increase knowledge to navigate barriers across the four pillars of food insecurity? Outcome 2: Increase knowledge across the four pillars of food insecurity * Does the behavioral health intervention with a Nurturing Care Family Navigator (NCFN) increase self-efficacy to secure and sustain enrollment with community nurturing care services? Outcome 3: Increase self-efficacy to secure and sustain enrollment with community nurturing care services Researchers will compare levels of food security among those receiving a navigation behavioral health intervention (consisted of 1:1 tailored navigation session and an educational workbook) compared to those receiving an educational workbook with messages across the four pillars of food insecurity (standard of care). Participants will: * Engage in intense weekly navigation 1:1 tailored session for 3 months * Engage in follow up monthly navigation 1:1 tailored session for 3 months * Participate in evaluation calls with a research assistant at enrollment, 3, 6, 12 months

Peer Recovery to Improve Polysubstance Use and Mobile Telemedicine Retention

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a peer-led, brief, behavioral intervention to improve adherence to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and reduce polysubstance use among patients with OUD and polysubstance use in underserved areas. The intervention is based on behavioral activation (BA) and is specifically designed to be implemented by a trained peer recovery specialist. In this hybrid, Type-1 effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial (RCT), the investigators will evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of Peer Activate vs. treatment as usual (TAU) over twelve months.

Optimizing Prevention and Care for Pregnant and Postpartum Adolescent Girls and Young Women With HIV in Tanzania

The goal of this clinical trial is to find better ways to care for pregnant and postpartum adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15-24 years with HIV in Tanzania, and to prevent them from passing HIV to their babies. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How often do young pregnant women with HIV go to their health appointments and stay on their treatment up to two years after giving birth? * How many babies born to young women with HIV stay HIV-free for two years? * How soon do young women with HIV get pregnant again after giving birth, and what factors affect this? * What are the best ways to help young women with HIV stay in care and stay healthy during and after pregnancy? * What social and structural factors affect whether young pregnant women with HIV go to their health appointments and stay on their treatment? * How can we work with young women with HIV to create and test a package of interventions to improve their healthcare during and after pregnancy? * Can this package of interventions help young women with HIV stay in care and remain healthy during and after pregnancy? Participants will: * Have their health data analyzed via health service records of all women who received HIV prevention services between 2018 and 2020, and were followed until 2023, across 559 health facilities in Tanzania. * Participate in qualitative interviews to share their experiences and challenges with staying in care. * Help to co-create a package of interventions to improve care. * Take part in a cluster-randomized trial to test these interventions. Researchers will compare the outcomes of the intervention package to see if they improve care engagement, retention, and health outcomes for AGYW with HIV during and after pregnancy.

Two-way Texting (2wT) to Improve Antiretroviral (ART) Patient Retention in Malawi

Investigators aim to demonstrate that interactive, two-way texting (2WT) to remind patients about their clinic visits and engage patients in their health can increase antiretroviral therapy (ART) retention in a routine setting in Lilongwe Malawi.