Purpose

The purpose of this study is to conduct a pragmatic, stepped wedge cluster randomized trial in 12 HIV pediatric clinics in Ghana to determine effectiveness, health benefits, cost and implementation to inform scale-up and sustainability of pediatric disclosure.

Condition

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 7 Years and 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • HIV infected children - Children between the ages of 7-18 who do not know their HIV diagnosis (based on caregiver account and medical records confirmation) and their caregivers will be eligible to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria

  • HIV-infected children less than 7 years - HIV-infected children with congenital or developmental disorders - HIV-infected children with comorbidities such as sickle cell disease or diabetes that require frequent clinic visits or hospitalizations - Children with AIDS-defining illness or end stage AIDS.

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Crossover Assignment
Primary Purpose
Health Services Research
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Active Comparator
Usual Care
During the control period, patients and caregivers recruited at the clinics will receive the current practice in the clinic, where the health care provider is expected to assess the caregiver and child readiness for disclosure during clinic appointments and give some information as they think indicated.
  • Behavioral: Usual Care
    During the control period, patients and caregivers recruited at the clinics will receive the current practice in the clinic, where the health care provider is expected to assess the caregiver and child readiness for disclosure during clinic appointments and give some information as they think indicated.
Experimental
Disclosure intervention
Participants who are assigned to the Sankofa intervention will take part in the process of disclosure (pre-disclosure, disclosure, and post-disclosure phases) with the adherence and disclosure specialist (ADDS).
  • Behavioral: Disclosure intervention
    Participants who are assigned to the Sankofa intervention will take part in the process of disclosure (pre-disclosure, disclosure, and post-disclosure phases) with the adherence and disclosure specialist (ADDS).

More Details

Status
Active, not recruiting
Sponsor
Boston University

Study Contact

Detailed Description

In this 5-year study, the investigators would like to build upon the successful Sankofa trial by testing the intervention in a larger scale study delivered in "real-world" clinic conditions over time in Ghana. The purpose of this study is to conduct a pragmatic, stepped wedge cluster randomized trial in 12 HIV pediatric clinics in Ghana to determine effectiveness, health benefits, cost and implementation to inform scale-up and sustainability of pediatric disclosure. The study will recruit dyads of 720 children (ages 7-18) and their caregivers from twelve (12) clinics, which will be randomly assigned to each of the four roll-out schedules ("wedge steps"), with three clinics per step. The two groups in the study are usual care and disclosure intervention. During the control period, patients and caregivers recruited at the clinics will receive the current practice in the clinic, where the health care provider is expected to assess the caregiver and child readiness for disclosure during clinic appointments and give some information as they think indicated. No formal pediatric disclosure guidelines or educational materials exist in Ghana. During the intervention period, the manualized, with standard operation procedures, Sankofa intervention will be delivered. The intervention is guided by the disclosure model and contains key elements to target well-documented, modifiable barriers to promote disclosure. The primary outcome is disclosure after one year (48 weeks) of the intervention. Secondary outcomes are antiretroviral medication adherence, health (virologic, immunologic, psychosocial, behavioral), cost, and implementation. The trial will be conducted with a strong team of interdisciplinary investigators at two universities in Ghana, Yale and Johns Hopkins University in partnership with the Ghana Ministry of Health (MoH), Ghana Health Service (GHS) and a community advisory board.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.