Participant acceptability and clinician satisfaction of cognitive behavioural therapy and medication management algorithm compared with enhanced standard care for treatment of depression among youth with HIV

Background: Primary results of the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT) 2002 trial showed that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and medication management algorithm (MMA) (COMB-R) significantly improved depression in youth with HIV (YWH) compared with enhanced standard care (ESC). Acceptability and satisfaction were examined among study participants and clinicians. Method: Between March 2017 and March 2019, 13 U.S. sites enrolled YWH, aged 12–24, diagnosed with nonpsychotic depression. Sites were randomised to either COMB-R (CBT by a therapist and licensed prescriber) or ESC (standard psychotherapy and medication management). After the intervention (week 24), participants, prescribers, and therapists rated acceptability and satisfaction. We compared site-level means using Wilcoxon tests. Results: Both COMB-R (n = 69) and ESC (n = 71) participants had a mean age of 21.4 years, with 53% female, and 54% having acquired HIV perinatally. Baseline age, sex, depression levels, RNA viral load, and CD4 count were comparable between arms. The distribution of site-level mean participant acceptability was greater in COMB-R compared with ESC (p = 0.04). The distribution of site-level mean prescriber satisfaction was greater in COMB-R (p = 0.01). The was no evidence that the site-level mean therapist satisfaction did not differ between arms (p = 0.52). Discussion: Acceptability and satisfaction for participants and licensed prescribers were higher at COMB-R sites compared with standard of care, indicating that this tailored, manual-guided, collaborative, measured care intervention was less burdensome in terms of the number of visits. Patient and medication provider satisfaction rates were higher than standard of care. Conclusion: While these results support the use of CBT and MMA in treating depression among YWH, further research is required to determine generalisability.