Study: Facilitation-Based Strategy Helps Brief Intervention Reduce Substance Use Among People with HIV

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — A recently completed study from RTI International found that a brief intervention for substance use was effective for helping people with HIV reduce their substance use, but only when used in combination with a comprehensive implementation strategy that focused on both the staff delivering the intervention and the leadership staff who support those staff.

The research team collaborated with 39 community-based HIV organizations in the U.S., all of which had two of their staff trained to implement a 15- to 30-minute brief intervention designed to motivate clients to decrease their substance use.

All staff received the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Strategy, which includes online training, in-person training, and monthly feedback and consultation. Half of the HIV organizations and their two staff also received the Implementation & Sustainment Facilitation (ISF) Strategy, which included monthly 30- to 60-minute meetings between an ISF Strategy facilitator, the two designated staff members, and one or more of the organization’s leadership staff.

Organizations that received the combination of the ATTC Strategy and the ISF Strategy delivered more brief interventions and with higher quality than organizations that only received the ATTC strategy. More importantly, the brief intervention was only effective in reducing client’s substance use within organizations that received both strategies. That is, the brief intervention was not found to be effective within organizations that only received the ATTC Strategy.

“Increasing substance use-related services in HIV community-based organizations — and the effectiveness of these services — is an important public health need,” said Bryan Garner, Ph.D., a senior implementation research scientist at RTI who led the study. “These findings are encouraging and hopefully will help improve care for people that have both HIV and problematic substance use.”

To learn more about RTI’s research related to HIV, visit: www.rti.org/hivresearch.