Clinician Use of HIV-Related Infographics During Clinic Visits in the Dominican Republic is Associated with Lower Viral Load and Other Improvements in Health Outcomes.

Abstract

We designed an infographic intervention to help clinicians provide health information to persons living with HIV. In this study, we assessed the extent to which our intervention may improve objectively and subjectively measured health outcomes (CD4 count, viral load, and engagement with clinician among others) when integrated into routine visits in the Dominican Republic. In this pretest-posttest study, we followed participants for 9months at 3-month intervals. Physicians administered the intervention during participants' first 3 visits. Outcome measures, selected using a conceptual model, were assessed at 4 time points. We assessed changes in outcomes over time with general linear regressions and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests. Participants (N = 50) were mostly female (56%) and had been living with HIV for a mean of 6.3years (SD = 6.1). All outcomes, except CD4 count, demonstrated statistically significant improvements by study end. This provides preliminary evidence our intervention may improve outcomes, but further testing is needed.