Friendship Bench Adaptation to Improve Mental Health & HIV Care Engagement Outcomes Among PLWH and PWID in Vietnam

Summary

This project will adapt and pilot a feasible and effective problem-solving therapy designed for low-resource settings to address common mental disorders like depression and anxiety - the Friendship Bench- in a Vietnamese population of individuals living with HIV who also have opiate use disorder. The Friendship Bench approach has the potential to make an important contribution to address CMDs and reduce barriers to HIV treatment success among people living with HIV (PLWH) with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), a critical population driving the HIV epidemic in Vietnam and many Southeast Asian countries. This proposal will generate critical evidence for designing a fully powered clinical trial to test the investigation team's adapted FB protocol in improving HIV, mental health, and drug use treatment outcomes for this vulnerable population.

Conditions

• HIV Infections
• Behavioral Symptoms
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Opioid-use Disorder
• Virus Infection
• Immune System Diseases
• Opioid Dependence

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Friendship Bench Delivered by Professional Counselor

Participants randomized to this arm will receive the Friendship Bench protocol delivered by a professional counselor.

BEHAVIORAL

Friendship Bench Delivered by Lay Counselor

Participants randomized to this arm will receive the Friendship Bench protocol delivered by a trained lay counselor.

BEHAVIORAL

Enhanced Usual Care

Enhanced usual care (EUC) will include general training of the HIV providers and clinics about CMD identification and management, and feedback to the HIV provider of the status of their enrolled patient to allow follow-up per the clinic's standard care. Information will be collected in follow-up interviews to characterize the care that patients receive. These activities will occur in all three arms, but they are the only activities in the EUC arm.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hanoi Medical University

  collaborator OTHER

• The Friendship Bench Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bradley Gaynes, MD, MPH · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-28

Primary Completion

2023-07-31

Completion

2023-07-31

Countries

• Vietnam

Study Locations