Improving HIV Adherence Care for Key Populations in India

The sessions will include content on yoga, nutrition, legal issues, medical information, and community resources from the original Chetana intervention (further described below). They will also include expanded content informed by our previous studies and focus group discussions with MSM and TGW that addresses the needs for sessions on mental health, financial literacy, substance use, legal rights for key populations and coping skills for interacting with the legal system, and community resources for MSM and TGW. Sessions will include specifically tailored content related to the needs of MSM or TGW.

Participants will be assigned to a peer navigator (PN) who will be their principal point of contact for the intervention. Within a week, the navigator will set up an initial introductory meeting, either in person or via video chat. This will serve as the first monthly check-in to monitor a participant's progress. During these in-person digital meetings, the navigator will work with a participant to identify their unique barriers that currently affect engagement in care and train participants to identify and break down solutions into manageable steps. Special attention will be paid to barriers associated with intersectional stigma and PNs will draw on their own experiences as members of stigmatized groups in identifying and brainstorming successful coping strategies. While this is not a structural intervention, PNs will work with their clients to develop ways of coping with structural barriers, including transportation and referrals to social services.