# A couples-based approach to improving engagement in HIV care

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $602,288

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Active engagement in HIV care is critical to optimize treatment outcomes among individuals living with HIV.
This is especially true for men who have sex with men (MSM), a group disproportionately affected by HIV and
continuing to experience high incidence rates. Social support, particularly in the context of primary romantic
relationships, has consistently been documented as a predictor of health behaviors, including adherence to
care for HIV and other conditions. As such, couples-based interventions have the potential to create a lasting
effect on engagement in HIV care, uptake and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV
prevention, and other health behaviors among MSM in primary relationships with other men. Building on years
of formative work documenting couple-level effects on engagement in care among HIV serodiscordant and
seroconcordant positive male couples, we have developed and piloted a couple-level intervention grounded in
Social Control Theory aimed at improving engagement in care and virologic outcomes. We now propose to
evaluate this intervention in a randomized controlled trial comparing virologic outcomes of couples randomized
to the couple-level intervention or to an individual intervention. If the couple-level intervention proves
efficacious, it will provide a potentially cost-effective and sustainable approach to optimizing treatment
outcomes and reducing risk of new HIV transmissions among this population. This may, by extension, be
subsequently adapted for other couples, other settings (including PrEP), and other health conditions that
demand active patient engagement such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9937858
- **Project number:** 5R01NR010187-14
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** MALLORY O JOHNSON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $602,288
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-08-15 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9937858

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9937858, A couples-based approach to improving engagement in HIV care (5R01NR010187-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9937858. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*