TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jones, Joyce
AU  - McKenzie-White, Jane
AU  - Saxton, Ronald
AU  - Grieb, Suzanne M
AU  - Nonyane, Bareng
AU  - Graham, Cadeesha
AU  - Cano, Anthony
AU  - Johnson, Sheridan
AU  - Childs, Lanisha
AU  - Greenbaum, Adena
AU  - Flynn, Colin
AU  - Pearlowitz, Marcia
AU  - Celano, Shivaun
AU  - Chang, Larry W
AU  - Page, Kathleen R
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/2/14
TI  - Leveraging mHealth and Patient Supporters for African Americans' and Latinxs' Engagement in HIV Care (LEAN): Protocol for a Randomized, Controlled, Effectiveness-Implementation Trial
JO  - JMIR Res Protoc
SP  - e42691
VL  - 12
KW  - mHealth
KW  - HIV linkage to care
KW  - HIV virologic suppression
KW  - HIV continuum of care
KW  - adherence
KW  - implementation
AB  - Background: Despite substantial investments in ending the HIV epidemic, disparities in HIV care persist, and there is an urgent need to evaluate novel and scalable approaches to improving HIV care engagement and viral suppression in real-world settings. Objective: This paper aims to describe a study protocol for a pragmatic type II hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial comparing existing standard of care clinic HIV linkage, adherence, and retention (LAR) protocols to a mobile health (mHealth)–enhanced linkage, adherence, and retention (mLAR) intervention. Methods: The study will enroll 450 participants from clinics in Baltimore City. Eligibility criteria include being ≥18 years of age, having a new HIV diagnosis or being HIV-positive and out of care, or being HIV-positive and deemed by clinic staff as someone who could benefit from linkage and retention services. Participants randomized to the intervention receive mHealth-supported patient navigation for 12 months. Participants in the control group receive the referring clinic’s standard of care patient support. The primary outcome is HIV virologic suppression at 12 months. A subset of participants will be interviewed at 12 months to learn about their HIV care experiences and, for those in the intervention arm, their experiences with the mLAR intervention. This protocol was developed in collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) and the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and with input from a community advisory board. Results: Enrollment began on February 25, 2020. As of August 11, 2022, 411 of the 450 target participants had been enrolled. Conclusions: Pragmatic implementation science trials designed with input from key stakeholders, including health departments and community members, can help evaluate the evidence for mHealth interventions to reduce HIV health disparities. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03934437; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03934437 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/42691 
SN  - 1929-0748
UR  - https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e42691
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/42691
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36787165
DO  - 10.2196/42691
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/42691
ER  -