Publication Abstract Display
Type: Poster
Title: Individualized texting for adherence building (iTAB) improves antiretroviral dose timing among HIV+ persons with Bipolar Disorder.
Authors: Moore DJ, Poquette AJ, Posada C, Blackstone K, Gouaux B, Badiee J, Grant I, Atkinson JH, the HNRP Group
Date: 03-20-2013
Abstract:Background: HIV-infected individuals with co-occurring bipolar disorder have significant difficulties with adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) adherence. Intensive and individualized medication adherence interventions might prove useful to improve cART adherence in this population, therefore, the present study aimed to develop and evaluate the efficacy of a text message intervention (i.e., individualized texting for adherence building: iTAB) to improve cART adherence. Methods: Participants included 28 HIV-infected, bipolar (HIV+/BD+) individuals who were randomized into two groups, iTAB (n=14) and an active comparison intervention (CTRL) (n=14). Both groups received psychoeducation (~30 min) on the importance of cART adherence and a daily text message to evaluate mood. The iTAB group additionally received medication reminder texts for their selected ARV and PSY. We tracked a selected antiretroviral (ARV) and psychotropic (PSY) medication using an electronic monitoring system for 30-days, and classified participants as adherent or non-adherent based on ≥90% adherence to prescribed doses. Results: iTAB participants were significantly more ARV adherent (92.9%) as compared to CTRL (57.1%) (p=0.02). The same effect did not hold for PSY adherence (p>0.05); 64.3% of both iTAB and CTRL participants were classified as PSY adherent. On a post-intervention questionnaire, iTAB participants perceived the intervention to be more helpful than CTRL participants (p=0.007), and there was a trend toward iTAB participants having higher self-perceived ability to adhere to ARVs as compared to CTRL participants (p=0.05). Conclusions: Personalized text messaging interventions such as iTAB appear effective for increasing cART adherence in HIV+/BD+ persons. The intervention was well tolerated and perceived to be helpful. Further studies will evaluate iTAB in other difficult-to-treat HIV-infected samples and evaluate the efficacy of the intervention over longer periods of time.

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