DEVELOPING CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES IN HIV REHABILITATION: PROCESS RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Our purpose was to develop process recommendations and guiding principles for future clinical practice guidelines in HIV rehabilitation. We conducted a scoping study that included focus group and interview consultations with 28 participants including people living with HIV, researchers, clinicians, educators, and policy stakeholders with expertise in HIV and rehabilitation. We used qualitative content analysis techniques to identify emergent themes related to the development of clinical practice guidelines. Results included seven recommendations for the process of developing clinical practice guidelines in HIV rehabilitation that spanned areas of flexibility, scope, adopting existing evidence from concurrent health conditions, format, interprofessional approach to development and implementation, terminology, and knowledge translation. Three guiding principles emerged to inform the philosophical approach for guideline development. These findings serve as a foundation for the development of clinical practice guidelines in HIV rehabilitation to enhance the care and treatment of people living with HIV