An Intervention to Reduce Drinking Among Individuals With HIV and Hepatitis C: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Heavy drinking poses serious risks to individuals with HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), and especially HIV/HCV coinfection. We adapted the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Clinician's Guide to address HIV/HCV coinfection and paired this with the "HealthCall" smartphone app to create an intervention tailored to HIV/HCV. After formative work and pretesting with HIV/ HCV coinfected heavy drinkers, we conducted a pilot trial to determine potential of this new intervention for decreasing drinking. Method: A sample of 31 HIV/HCV coinfected heavy drinkers were randomly assigned to either intervention ( n = 16) or control ( n = 15; psychoeducation and brief advice) conditions. All participants completed a 60 -day program consisting of approximately 25 -minute -long baseline sessions and brief 5-10 -minute booster sessions at 30 and 60 days, as well as an assessment -only follow-up at 90 days. Outcomes were measured using the Timeline Followback at baseline, 30, 60, and 90 days. Generalized linear models were used for analysis. Results: Intervention participants drank fewer mean drinks per drinking day at 60 days (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.43, p = .03) and 90 days (IRR = 0.34, p < .01). Intervention participants also reported fewer drinking days at 90 days (mean difference = 34.5%; p < .01). Self -ef fi cacy differed between groups during intervention ( p < .05). Conclusions: Although our sample was small, our results suggested lower drinking among participants who received a modi fi ed Clinician's Guide intervention plus use of the smartphone app HealthCall, in comparison with education and advice alone. A larger study is indicated to further examine this brief, disseminable intervention for HIV/HCV coinfected drinkers. ( J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 85, 227-233, 2024)