LAUSR

Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to preventing HIV-related complications and transmission for adolescents and young adults with HIV. The Metropolitan Atlanta Community Adolescent Rapid Testing Initiative (MACARTI) was a single-center, prospective, nonrandomized, interventional control group study incorporating motivational interviewing psychotherapy strategies with community outreach, HIV testing, and intensive case management. This substudy of MACARTI examined how the motivational interviewing and case management components influenced psychological distress, proactive coping, HIV/AIDS stress, and HIV stigma in association with HIV disease markers (HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts). Ninety-eight adolescents and young adults with HIV (Mage = 21.5 ± 1.8, range 18-24) were allocated to either the standard of care (n = 49) or MACARTI (n = 49) arms, and results were compared between these two groups. Baseline and follow-up surveys measured psychological distress, proactive coping, HIV/AIDS stress, and HIV stigma. MACARTI arm assignment was associated with statistically significant reductions in psychological distress (p = .016), HIV/AIDS stress (p = .023), and the use of more reflective coping (p = .016) and strategic planning strategies (p = .001) during the first 6 months. These results did not remain significant at 1-year follow-up but may still provide support for the integration of psychotherapy strategies into HIV identification, linkage, and retention efforts in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).