Recruitment into a clinical trial of people living with uncontrolled HIV infection who inject drugs: A Site case report from the CTN 67 CHOICES study.

CHOICES, CTN-0067, was an open-label, randomized, comparative effectiveness trial of office-based extended-release naltrexone versus treatment as usual in people with untreated opioid use disorder and HIV. This study explored facilitators to recruitment in Miami, a successful recruiting site in the national trial. The mixed-methods study included quantitative surveys of randomized participants, medical record abstraction, and qualitative interviews with study staff. Miami recruited 47 (40.5%) of 116 randomized participants in the six-site national trial. In-depth interviews of study staff (n=6) revealed that Miami had a recruitment approach consisting of street level outreach and a close relationship with the local syringe services program (SSP). Partnership with a local SSP provided access to people living with HIV who inject drugs in Miami.

Conclusions: SSPs’ fundamental trust within the community of people who inject drugs can be leveraged in studies aiming to improve health outcomes in this underserved and high priority population.

Related protocols: CTN-0067