WeCare: a lay-delivered program to help MSM in South Africa manage mental health and HIV meds

Is this trial a fit for you?

A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.

What this trial studies

This interventional study adapts the Friendship Bench problem-solving therapy to include minority-stress content and explicit adherence skills for PrEP and ART. It compares the WeCare program delivered by trained lay coaches in POP INN clinics to usual care. The trial evaluates changes in depressive symptoms, PrEP/ART adherence, and rates of viral suppression, as well as safety, acceptability, and feasibility. Eligible participants are MSM in Johannesburg on ART or PrEP with moderate depressive symptoms and adherence challenges. Outcomes will inform whether lay-delivered mental health support plus adherence coaching can improve the care cascade in this setting.

Why it matters

Who can join: the full rules

Inclusion Criteria:

* Male
* reports sexual intercourse with a man in the past 6 months
* reside in the Johannesburg metropolitan area with no plans to relocate during the next 6 months
* ability to communicate in English
* current prescription for any ART regimen (HIV-positive participants) or daily oral PrEP (HIV-negative participants) at the POP INN clinic.
* HIV positive participant only: unsuppressed HIV viral load (HIV-1 RNA viral load ≥200 copies/mL) in the sample collected in the past six months
* HIV negative participants only: Self-reported challenges adhering to daily oral PrEP (i.e miss 3 or more tablets per week)
* Moderate symptoms of depression during past 2 weeks (score on the PHQ-9 ≥10 and \<20)
* Ability to understand and provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Presently engaged in mental health therapy.
* Participated in qualitative phase of WeCare study (AUR2-18-419) or open-pilot (present study).
* Refuses audio recording of the in-person or online individual counselling session

Where it's running

• Aurum Institute
  Johannesburg, South Africa Recruiting

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Don Operario, PhD — Rollins School of Public Health
• Study coordinator: Don Operario, PhD
• Email: don.operario@emory.edu
• Phone: 404-727-0503

Similar studies

Other studies for the same condition or treatment. Recruiting studies are listed first.

• Improving HIV treatment and well-being for young men who have sex with men in Ho Chi Minh City

  This project will follow 300 young men (ages 18–24) living with HIV in Ho Chi Minh City for one year to see which social, mental health, and care factors are linked to staying on ART and keeping the virus suppressed.

  Recruiting Center for Applied Research on Men and Community Health, Vietnam · Ho Chi Minh City · NCT07559266

• Healing Hearts: A Mindfulness App for Parents Navigating Divorce or Separation

  A online program tests a self-guided mindfulness app for distressed parents going through divorce or separation, to see if it helps parent and child wellbeing.

  Recruiting University of Connecticut · Stamford, Connecticut · NCT07871916

• Integrated digital e-clinic for mental health and reproductive health for women and adolescent girls in Jordan

  This project tests a digital e-clinic to provide mental health, psychosocial support, and reproductive health information to women and adolescent girls in Jordan, including Syrian refugees.

  Recruiting Jordan University of Science and Technology · Irbid · NCT07861945

• Memory training and brain scans in young adults

  This study tests whether a computerized memory training program can change working memory performance in healthy young adults.

  Recruiting Centre Hospitalier St Anne · Paris · NCT07851051

• Camino HIV Prevention and Care Study

  This study tests a combined legal and peer-support program to help Latin American adults in DC and the Bay Area improve HIV testing, PrEP use, and care engagement.

  Recruiting American University · Berkeley, California and 1 other locations · NCT07834853

• RISE Lab: Building Resilience Through Responsibility

  This pilot tests a small-group program to help middle school students with behavioral and mental health needs build self-regulation, responsibility, and resilience.

  Recruiting University of Oregon · Eugene, Oregon · NCT07833917

How to take part

1. Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
2. Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
3. Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.