Social Network Intervention to Engage Out-of-Care PLH Into Treatment

Leaders of the 16 intervention condition networks will attend a 7-session intervention, with the first 5 sessions held weekly and the last 2 at biweekly intervals. Networks will include persons with differing care histories including PLH never in care, those who dropped out of care, and those who attend medical appointments irregularly or are inconsistent in adherence. Network leaders will be trained to tailor communications to each friend's care circumstances. Issues of current injecting drug users (IDUs) may differ from non-IDUs. Therefore, intervention content will be tailored based on formative phase findings, and groups for IDU network leaders will be held separately.

At the baseline session, participants in the comparison condition will receive counseling about the benefits and availability of HIV care and the importance of treatment adherence.