Reduction of Drug Use and HIV Risk Among Out-of-Treatment Methamphetamine Users

Summary

There is a need to identify and test effective strategies to reduce meth use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors in heterosexuals. This project will compare the efficacy of a manually-driven HIV testing and counseling (HIV T/C) intervention, with HIV T/C plus a manualized Contingency Management (CM), with HIV T/C plus CM plus a manualized Strengths-Based Case Management (CM/SBCM) model. As HIV T/C is the standard of care, the investigators are testing to determine if the investigators can enhance this standard. The specific aims and hypotheses of this protocol are:

1. To compare the relative efficacy of HIV T/C vs. CM vs. CM/SBCM on reducing drug use, specifically meth use. Hypothesis 1: CM/SBCM will reduce drug use more than those in CM (which will have more reduction than HIV T/C), potentially mediated through increased service utilization.
2. To compare the relative efficacy of HIV T/C vs. CM vs. CM/SBCM on reducing HIV and STI risk behaviors, specifically sex risk behaviors but also needle risk for injection drug users (IDUs). Hypothesis 2: CM/SBCM will have greater decreases in HIV risk behaviors than those in CM (which will have greater decreases than HIV T/C), potentially mediated through reduced drug use.
3. To compare the relative efficacy of HIV T/C vs. CM vs. CM/SBCM on improving mental health status. Hypothesis 3: CM/SBCM will have greater improvements in mental health status than those in CM (which will have greater improvements than HIV T/C), potentially mediated through increased service utilization and reduction of drug use, and potentially moderated by baseline meth use.

Conditions

• HIV Infections

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

HIV Testing and Counseling

A manualized individual-level model consisting of two education and counseling sessions that structurally bracket confidential HIV antibody screening.

BEHAVIORAL

Contingency Management

In voucher-based CM programs, drug users who submit urine samples that are negative for specified drugs are reinforced with vouchers. Based on operant conditioning, CM rewards those who comply with the targeted behavior and does not reward when compliance is not achieved. In this study a mid-value reinforcement CM schedule will be used in order to balance community cost concerns with the need to show comparative efficacy in reducing meth use and concomitant sex risk behaviors in a largely unstudied risk group. Participants in the CM arm will be asked to come to the study site three times a week to leave a urine sample, get the result, and will then be offered a voucher if their urine is clean and given brief verbal feedback.

BEHAVIORAL

Strengths-based case management

Strengths-based case management (SBCM) is a specific type of case management that is based on the following principles: 1) clients are most successful when they identify and use their strengths, abilities, and assets; 2) goal-setting is guided by the clients' perceptions of their own needs; 3) the client-case manager relationship is promoted as essential; 4) a creative approach to the use of the community will lead to the discovery of needed resources; and 5) case management is conducted in the community. It differs from more traditional case management models that emphasize resource brokerage and client advocacy in its recognition that only the individual can change his/her behavior.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Colorado, Denver

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Karen F Corsi, ScD, MPH · University of Colorado, Denver

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-08-31

Primary Completion

2015-06-13

Completion

2016-05-25

Countries

• United States

Study Locations