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HIV/AIDSPrIYA-SPNCT03875950

Standardized Patient Encounters to Improve PrEP Counseling for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Kenya

A study testing Clinician training intervention in people with HIV/AIDS, run by University of Washington at 1 site in Kenya.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The goal of this study is to facilitate uptake of and adherence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Kenya. The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial at 24 health facilities in Kisumu, Kenya of a clinical training intervention using… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
HIV/AIDS
What is being tested?
Clinician training intervention
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
232 participants
Where
1 siteKenya
Study dates
2 Mar 2019to 2 Dec 2021
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Facilities:
  • Facilities located in a county in Western Kenya
  • Currently offering PrEP services to adolescent girls and young women
  • Health care workers:
  • Age 18 or older
  • Current employee of one of the 24 study sites
  • Able to provide consent

Who cannot join

  • Facilities:
  • Health facilities where PrEP services are staffed by contract workers, program, or study staff
  • Health care workers:
  • Study staff seconded to the site as part of a trial or intervention

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Kenya1 site
  • Kenyatta National Hospital

    Nairobi

Other trials in Kenya

About this study

Official title: Standardized Patient Encounters to Improve Counseling for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention to Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Kenya

The goal of this study is to facilitate uptake of and adherence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Kenya. The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial at 24 health facilities in Kisumu, Kenya of a clinical training intervention using standardized patient actors. The hypothesis is that the training will improve quality of PrEP service delivery, defined as adherence to national guidelines and non-judgmental communication.

Read the detailed description

Despite global gains in female-controlled HIV prevention strategies, the incidence of HIV in adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) continues to rise. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition in trial settings, however real-world effectiveness at scale is limited by poor adherence.

An important barrier to uptake and adherence to HIV prevention services among AGYW is the experience of judgmental, and non-empathetic interactions with health care workers (HCWs). New strategies are needed to improve provider counseling and communication skills to support PrEP adherence among AGYW. Standardized patient actors (SPs) have been used in a variety of settings to improve clinical assessment and care skills, as well as patient outcomes.

The "PrIYA-SP" study aims to improve HCW communication skills and adherence to PrEP guidelines through a cluster randomized trial of a SP actor training intervention. Twenty-four facilities that currently offer PrEP to AGYW in Kisumu County, Kenya will be selected. The first phase will include a cross-sectional assessment by unannounced SPs who will present to clinics portraying AGYW seeking PrEP, according to case scripts. Following the baseline assessment, 12 facilities will be randomized to the SP training intervention. The two-day intervention consists of didactic sessions covering national guidelines and communication skills, values clarification exercises, role playing sessions with SPs, and a group debriefing with HCW participants. Following the intervention, unannounced SPs will repeat the cross-sectional assessment.

The primary outcome is quality of counseling, defined as adherence to national guidelines for PrEP delivery and use of non-judgmental communication skills. An intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis will be used to evaluate whether the SP training intervention resulted in higher quality counseling at intervention compared to control facilities, adjusted for relevant baseline characteristics and quality measures. The investigators hypothesize that this SP training intervention will improve quality delivery of PrEP to AGYW compared to standard of care.

Results from this study will directly inform operational guidelines for PrEP delivery to AGYW in low-resource settings and offer a potentially scalable strategy to improve PrEP service delivery and adherence among AGYW.

Conditions
HIV/AIDS
Being tested
Clinician training intervention
Keywords
Adolescents, Young women, HIV care and treatment, Clinical training, Africa, Kenya
Medical subject headings
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Clinician training interventionBehavioural

    This intervention is a clinician training using standardized patient actors to improve communication and empathy skills of health care workers delivering PrEP to adolescent girls and young women to prevent HIV in Kenya.

Study groups in NCT03875950
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Training interventionExperimentalIn this cluster randomized control trial design, the experimental arm refers to the 12 study sites that are randomly assigned to receive the clinician training intervention. The intervention is a clinician training using standardized patient actors to improve communication and empathy skills of health care workers who deliver PrEP to adolescent girls and young women to prevent HIV.
Receives: Behavioral: Clinician training intervention
Standard of care controlNo interventionIn this randomized cluster randomized control trial design, the no intervention arm refers to the 12 study sites that are randomly assigned not to receive the clinician training intervention. Instead, these study sites will receive the standard of care, which is no standardized patient actor training, for health care workers who deliver PrEP to adolescent girls and young women to prevent HIV.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Quality of PrEP Counseling Provided by Health Care Workers Delivering PrEP to Adolescent Girls and Young Women for HIV Prevention in Kenya

    Quality is assessed as total score from a checklist provided by the SPs after each unannounced visit (n=71 SP visits in each arm) including domains of communication skills and adherence to national guidelines. Communication quality is assessed in an adapted version of the Bayer-Fetzer Kalamazoo Consensus Statement; scores range from 7-28 with higher scores indicating higher quality communication. Guideline adherence is assessed in a scoring system adapted from the Kenyan National AIDS \& STI Control Programme guidelines; scores range from 0-13 with higher scores indicating higher PrEP competency. Each measure is computed as a percent of total score possible. The total quality score will be a combined continuous score and rescaled out of 100 per unannounced SP visit. Mean scores among all SP encounters taking place in facilities randomized to the clinical intervention will be compared to mean scores among those randomized to standard of care.

    Measured: Unannounced standardized patient actor visits take approximately 15 minutes each, taking place over 3-4 months.

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Competency Score Measuring Quality of PrEP Counseling Provided by Health Care Workers During Clinical Training Intervention [Among Intervention Arm Only]

    The secondary outcome is PrEP competency among HCWs in interactions with SPs during the clinical training intervention, assessed as sub-scores for interpersonal skills, communication quality, and guideline adherence. Interpersonal skills are assessed using the Interpersonal skills (IPS) assessment tool (Van Zanten 2007); scores range from 1-16 with higher scores indicating better interpersonal skills. Communication quality is assessed in an adapted version of the Bayer-Fetzer Kalamazoo Consensus Statement; scores range from 7-28 with higher scores indicating higher quality communication. Guideline adherence is assessed in a scoring system adapted from the Kenyan National AIDS \& STI Control Programme guidelines; scores range from 0-13 with higher scores indicating higher competency. The total competency score will be a combined continuous score (range 8-57) per SP interaction during the clinical training intervention. All scores are rescaled as a percent of total points possible.

    Measured: Standardized patient actor training interactions take approximately 15 minutes each and will occur during a two-day training intervention. Trainings will be conducted over a period of 2-3 months.

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted15 Mar 2019
  2. Study start2 Mar 2019
  3. Primary completion30 Jun 2021
  4. Study completion2 Dec 2021

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Health services research
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
232 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03875950
Sponsor's protocol ID
STUDY00005595
Other IDs
R01HD094630
Acronym
PrIYA-SP
Status last verified
Oct 2022
First submitted
15 Feb 2019
Last updated
12 Oct 2022
Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: The study investigators are prepared to share data with other researchers in accordance with NIH policies and other local regulations.

Publications

  • Kohler P, Larsen A, Abuna F, Owiti G, Sila J, Owens T, Kemunto V, Lagat H, Vera M, Richardson BA, Wilson K, Pintye J, John-Stewart G, Kinuthia J. Patient actor training improves preexposure prophylaxis delivery for adolescent girls and young women in Kenya: a cluster randomized trial. AIDS. 2024 Aug 1;38(10):1505-1512. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003943. Epub 2024 Jun 7.

    PubMed 38857513
  • Larsen A, Wilson KS, Kinuthia J, John-Stewart G, Richardson BA, Pintye J, Abuna F, Lagat H, Owens T, Kohler P. Standardised patient encounters to improve quality of counselling for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Kenya: study protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2020 Jun 21;10(6):e035689. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035689.

    PubMed 32565464

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Clinician training intervention in people with HIV/AIDS, run by University of Washington at 1 site in Kenya.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 12 Oct 2022. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Kenya. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 12 Oct 2022). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Quality of PrEP Counseling Provided by Health Care Workers Delivering PrEP to Adolescent Girls and Young Women for HIV Prevention in Kenya (time frame: Unannounced standardized patient actor visits take approximately 15 minutes each, taking place over 3-4 months.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03875950, which also lists 2 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 12 Oct 2022.

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