An MHealth Intervention to Improve HIV Prevention Service Engagement Among Racially Diverse Women Who Use Drugs

The goal of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the mHeaLth interventiOn To redUce Stigma (LOTUS) intervention to improve HIV prevention service engagement and reduce intersectional stigma among racially diverse women who use drugs. LOTUS is a technology-delivered intervention that provides HIV prevention informational content and tips, peer social support and social networking features, a resource locator, HIV prevention monitoring and reminders (e.g., reminders for HIV/STI testing and PrEP doses), and virtual guided discussions with health care professionals.

The LOTUS intervention is a technology-delivered intervention to improve HIV prevention service engagement and reduce intersectional stigma, guided by the Health Stigma and Discrimination Framework and the Theory of Triadic Influences, for racially and ethnically diverse women who use drugs. LOTUS provides HIV prevention informational content and tips, peer social support and social networking features, a resource locator, HIV prevention monitoring and reminders (e.g., reminders for HIV/STI testing and PrEP doses), and virtual guided discussions with health care professionals. Given the disproportionate HIV-related harms racially and ethnically diverse women who use drugs face, and critical need for HIV prevention mHealth interventions tailored to the unique needs of this population, the current study seeks to accomplish the following aim. The primary aim is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the LOTUS intervention in a pilot randomized controlled trial. Racially and ethnically diverse women who use drugs residing in Southern California (n = 60) will be randomized (2:1) to receive the LOTUS intervention or an informational control for 6-months. The proportion of participants retained, intervention use data, and validated self-reported usability, HIV/STI testing, PrEP use, and intersectional stigma measures will be collected at baseline, 3-, and 6-months to assess LOTUS feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact. The investigators hypothesize that participants in the LOTUS intervention will find the intervention to be feasible and usable, and that they will demonstrate significant improvements in HIV prevention service use and intersectional stigma at each follow-up time point when compared to control participants. The investigators will also conduct exit interviews with every other participant randomized to LOTUS (n = 20) to gain feedback on the intervention characteristics, as defined by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, and to elicit suggestions for improvement in anticipation of a future large-scale randomized controlled trial.