Development and Evaluation of a Multi-Component Intervention to Support HIV Care Engagement Among Patients Receiving Cancer Treatment in Zimbabwe

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Other
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

In Zimbabwe, people who have cancer and HIV may have a difficult time staying engaged in their HIV care while they are being treated for cancer. This is because HIV and cancer care are usually provided at different health facilities, which can result in barriers to accessing clinical care for both HIV and cancer at the same time. It is important to remain engaged in HIV care, and continue taking medication to treat HIV throughout cancer treatment. The goal of this project is to identify barriers that make it difficult to stay engaged in HIV care and continue HIV treatment during cancer treatment and develop strategies to address them. The investigators will accomplish this by first observing a group of 150 people with cancer and HIV who are receiving cancer treatment at Parirenyatwa Hospital, in Harare, Zimbabwe. The investigators will measure barriers to accessing HIV care, and disruptions to HIV care engagement during cancer treatment. Next, the investigators will work with experts and key stakeholders to develop strategies that can be put in place at Parirenyatwa Hospital to better support engagement in HIV care during cancer treatment. The investigators will work with the cancer ward at the hospital to implement these strategies. Finally, the investigators will observe a second group of 150 people with cancer and HIV, who begin their cancer treatment at Parirenyatwa Hospital after the strategies have been put in place. The investigators will measure acceptability of these strategies to both patients and hospital staff. The investigators will also measure barriers to accessing HIV care and disruptions to HIV care engagement in the second group. The investigators will compare barriers to HIV care and HIV care engagement in the second group to the first group, to determine whether the strategies make it easier for people with cancer and HIV to remain engaged in HIV care during cancer treatment.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• Age 18 or older

• Registered patient at Parirenyatwa Hospital Radiotherapy Centre, receiving cancer treatment for a new diagnosis

• HIV-positive

Locations
Other Locations
Zimbabwe
Parirenyatwa Hospital
RECRUITING
Harare
Time Frame
Start Date: 2024-11-18
Estimated Completion Date: 2028-12-01
Participants
Target number of participants: 300
Treatments
No_intervention: Pre-intervention cohort
This is a pre-post study. The pre-intervention cohort will not experience any intervention. The barriers to HIV care experienced by the pre-intervention cohort will be documented and used to develop strategies to support engagement in HIV care during cancer treatment. After follow-up is complete for the pre-intervention cohort, we will implement the strategies to support engagement in HIV care at the Parirenyatwa Hospital Radiotherapy Centre.
Experimental: Post-intervention cohort
The intervention will be developed based on barriers to HIV care experienced by the pre-intervention cohort. It will be a system intervention, implemented at the Radiotherapy Centre at Parirenyatwa Hospital. It may include strategies like improving documentation of HIV-related information in oncology patient records, improving processes for referrals and access to HIV-related prescriptions, and supporting better communication between oncology and HIV clinical care teams. These strategies will be implemented with a period of process improvement between the pre- and post-intervention cohorts. Because the intervention will change the health system, all new patients who begin cancer treatment after the intervention is implemented will experience the health system updates. We will begin enrollment in the post-intervention cohort after process improvement is complete.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Leads: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov