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AIDS Care
Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume 27, 2015 - Issue 9
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Original Articles

An exploration of weekly patterns in HIV-related behaviors: implications for successful interventions and future research

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Pages 1118-1127 | Received 14 Aug 2014, Accepted 17 Mar 2015, Published online: 20 Apr 2015
 

Abstract

Recent studies have indicated weekly patterns of health behaviors and information seeking in areas such as diet and smoking cessation, but little information is available on whether similar patterns may exist in HIV. If such patterns do exist, there could be important implications for the timing of interventions for both prevention and care. This review provides a summary of the available literature on weekly patterns in HIV-relevant behaviors and existing interventions (including prevention and antiretroviral therapy [ART] adherence), and provides recommendations for additional research. Data were collected from published reports indexed from database inception through December 2014 and identified through PubMed and EBSCO. Only English language reports were included. Evidence of weekly patterns was found in information-seeking behaviors, risk behaviors, screening and care, and structuring of existing interventions, including ART adherence interventions. These patterns included increased interest in HIV-related information early in the week, weekend patterns of risk behavior among some populations, and interest in weekend and evening clinic hours. Literature on text messaging for ART adherence indicates that weekly short message service messages are the most effective. Implications for prevention and adherence interventions are discussed, and recommendations for future research are given.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Monday Campaigns.

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