Hindawi Publishing Corporation
AIDS Research and Treatment
Volume 2013, Article ID 585143, 11 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/585143
Clinical Study
Preliminary Evidence for Feasibility, Use, and Acceptability of
Individualized Texting for Adherence Building for Antiretroviral
Adherence and Substance Use Assessment among HIV-Infected
Methamphetamine Users
David J. Moore,
1,2
Jessica L. Montoya,
2,3
Kaitlin Blackstone,
2,3
Alexandra Rooney,
1,2
Ben Gouaux,
1,2
Shereen Georges,
1,2
Colin A. Depp,
1,4
J. Hampton Atkinson,
1,2,4
and The TMARC Group
1,2
1
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
2
HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program, 220 Dickinson Street, Suite B (8231), San Diego, CA 92103, USA
3
San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego,
CA 92120, USA
4
VA, San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to David J. Moore; djmoore@ucsd.edu
Received 29 March 2013; Revised 21 June 2013; Accepted 26 June 2013
Academic Editor: Seth Himmelhoch
Copyright © 2013 David J. Moore et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
he feasibility, use, and acceptability of text messages to track methamphetamine use and promote antiretroviral treatment (ART)
adherence among HIV-infected methamphetamine users was examined. From an ongoing randomized controlled trial, 30-day
text response rates of participants assigned to the intervention (individualized texting for adherence building (iTAB), n = 20) were
compared to those in the active comparison condition (n = 9). Both groups received daily texts assessing methamphetamine use, and
the iTAB group additionally received personalized daily ART adherence reminder texts. Response rate for methamphetamine use
texts was 72.9% with methamphetamine use endorsed 14.7% of the time. Text-derived methamphetamine use data was correlated
with data from a structured substance use interview covering the same time period ( < 0.05). he iTAB group responded to 69.0%
of adherence reminder texts; among those responses, 81.8% endorsed taking ART medication. Standardized feedback questionnaire
responses indicated little diiculty with the texts, satisfaction with the study, and beliefs that future text-based interventions
would be helpful. Moreover, most participants believed the intervention reduced methamphetamine use and improved adherence.
Qualitative feedback regarding the intervention was positive. Future studies will reine and improve iTAB for optimal acceptability
and eicacy. his trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01317277.
1. Introduction
Mobile health (mHealth) interventions aiming to enhance
health behaviors have recently proliferated [1]. mHealth
strategies are designed to be integrated into the everyday
lives of patients in order to minimize barriers to intervention
implementation and facilitate use and generalizability [2].
Both the mobility and popularity of cell phones make it
possible to remotely deliver services to assist people with
behavior modiication and disease self-management [3],
thereby improving health outcomes. Short-message service
(SMS; i.e., text messaging), in particular, represents a low-
cost route to promoting health behaviors, such as treatment
adherence, due to the ubiquitous nature of this technology