RCT of an Intersectional Stigma Intervention to Sustain Viral Suppression Among Women Living With Serious Mental Illness and HIV in Botswana

The study goal is to promote viral load suppression among women with serious mental illness (SMI) and HIV in Botswana, given that these women are especially vulnerable to psychiatric medication nonadherence and symptom exacerbation, which are made worse by stigma and threaten antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence.

The investigators propose to test an intervention to reduce stigma due to the statuses of SMI and HIV, against an attention control condition, in the high-risk transition period after discharge from an initial psychiatric hospitalization. Specifically, the investigators are conducting a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 4-month follow-up to compare the effectiveness of 1) What Matters Most (WMM)-based intersectional stigma intervention delivered as clients transition from psychiatric hospitalization to outpatient care; and 2) an attention placebo control condition that follows a similar format to isolate the effects of the intervention.

The investigators will also assess policymaker workshops where peer women with SMI and HIV co-lead the reporting of RCT findings via lived experience to policymakers to initiate structural change.

Enabling women with SMI and HIV to resist stigma has the potential to improve their HIV outcomes and empower these women to elicit broader, structural-level change.