Conditional Economic Incentives for HIV Treatment Adherence: Aligning Adolescent Developmental Hallmarks with Behavioral Economic Theory to Improve HIV Treatment Adherence.

Abstract

Adolescent-tailored antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence interventions take place within the context of unique developmental stage. Suboptimal ART adherence among adolescents living with HIV in South Africa underscores that interventions are urgently needed to improve adherence. We conducted semistructured in-depth interviews with 35 adolescents aged 10-19 years living with HIV. In addition, 14 clinicians and 35 caregivers were interviewed to provide a diverse perspective on barriers and facilitators of medication adherence for adolescents living with HIV (ALWH). Thematic coding was utilized for this analysis. Our main findings were organized by following a priori themes: (1) acceptability of conditional economic incentives (CEIs) as an adherence intervention strategy for adolescents, (2) predicted behavioral impacts, and the (3) durability of CEIs to ensure medication adherence for adolescents in the long term. Subthemes that emerged included CEIs as tool to overcome competing demands, increasing intrinsic motivation and orientation toward the future, and optimal timing of the intervention. Exposure to a CEI intervention during early adolescence (ages 10-13) may be a particularly helpful intervention as CEIs may have long-lasting effects given that habit-formation behavior is developed during early adolescence. There is little consensus on effect duration from the perspective of adolescents, clinicians, and caregivers. Future studies should continue to explore the impact of CEIs for long-term ART adherence.