403P
MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATING IN A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC HIV VACCINE TRIAL (CTN173)
L Balfour1, J Kowal1, A Silverman1, GA Tasca1, C Tremblay2, J Routy3, JB Angel1
¹Ottawa Hospital-General Campus, Ottawa, Ontario; 2Hotel Dieu Hospital; 3Montreal Chest Institute, Montreal, Québec
Objectives: Understanding HIV patients' motivation and concerns about participating in novel therapeutic vaccine trials is important. Potential social and personal risks and benefits should be carefully weighed by patients when they enroll. Patients who feel better prepared or more informed are more likely to adhere to their treatments. The present study is a psychological sub-study of a larger, multi-site therapeutic HIV vaccine trial. The main focus of this psychological sub-study is to describe HIV patients' motivation for participating and to monitor patients' mood and coping throughout the study.
Methods: Eligible participants must be at least 18 years-old, have documented HIV infection, have an "undetectable" HIV viral load (<50 copies/mL) for >2 years and a CD4 nadire >250 cells/uL, and currently be taking highly active antiretroviral treatment. All patients completed an 11-item vaccine motivation scale at study baseline. Data collection for the larger clinical trial is ongoing.
Results: All patients enrolled in the larger study agreed to participate in the psychology sub-study. Preliminary results (N=17) indicate that most vaccine trial participants (>82%) report low social risk concerns (eg, fears of rejection or discrimination by others) and high hopes for potential social benefits (eg, being one step closer to developing an effective HIV vaccine). Most study participants (94%) are motivated by personal benefits (eg, to learn updated information about HIV), and 81% acknowledge that they have accepted some level of personal risk (eg, the therapeutic vaccine may cause some side-effects).
Conclusions: Preliminary results from this study suggest that patients who enrol in a novel therapeutic HIV vaccine trial are initially highly motivated to participate because they feel that potential social and personal benefits to participating outweigh potential personal risks. At study follow-up, patients' baseline motivation will be correlated with their mood and adherence to the treatment protocol.