# Community-engaged implementation strategies for acceptance interventions to improve access to care for people with HIV and injection drug use

> **NIH NIH R03** · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $89,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Various barriers including stigma can limit access to HIV and substance use for people with HIV who
inject drugs. Acceptance and Commitment Treatment (ACT) empowers these people to cope with
stigma and other care barriers, leading to an increase in health services utilization. ACT is an
evidence-based intervention that uses acceptance, mindfulness, and behavior change processes to
improve psychological flexibility. In the SCRIPT randomized controlled trial, we showed that ACT
could increase antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and substance use care engagement for people
with HIV and active injection drug use. This study recruited participants at a community-based harm
reduction site and trained psychologists delivered the intervention at a community clinic, but
community-engaged implementation strategies have not yet been studied. Implementation strategies
for evidence-based care access interventions for people with HIV and injection drug use are rare.
This project will narrow this gap, assessing appropriate implementation outcomes and their relations
with trial outcomes. We will also explore implementation strategies, to be tested in future hybrid
effectiveness-implementation trials of ACT. Using the existing mixed-methods data from the SCRIPT
trial, this R03 proposes to assess implementation outcomes and identify implementation strategies
(including intervention adaptation, training, fidelity monitoring). The results from this project will aid in
access to health services for the stigmatized population of people with HIV who inject drugs and
provide the groundwork for future trials testing acceptance-based approaches to improve care access
for people with HIV, substance use and potentially other stigmatized conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10911282
- **Project number:** 5R03DA059341-02
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Karsten Lunze
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $89,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10911282

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10911282, Community-engaged implementation strategies for acceptance interventions to improve access to care for people with HIV and injection drug use (5R03DA059341-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10911282. Licensed CC0.

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