Daily self-report of substance use via text message corresponds to retrospective assessment in people with HIV who use methamphetamine

Abstract

Methamphetamine use is highly prevalent among people with HIV (PWH). Substance use is difficult to assess accurately and is often evaluated using a timeline follow-back interview (TLFB). One significant limitation of the TLFB is its long retrospective recall period (e.g. remembering use over a 30-day period). Self-report via text messaging offers a remote and potentially efficacious method of assessing methamphetamine use at a time closer to actual use. The aim of this secondary analysis is to evaluate the concordance between TLFB- and text message-reported methamphetamine use in a sample of 57 PWH; and by neurocognitive impairment status. Daily text messages evaluated methamphetamine use in the previous 24 h. Participants completed a TLFB covering the past 30 days to assess methamphetamine use frequency. There was a significant correlation between TLFB and daily text message reports (ρ = 0.617, p < .001). Results of matched paired t-tests showed comparability in mean reports of methamphetamine use between assessment methods (text-based frequency = 28%, TLFB frequency = 31%; p = .328). Although results approached significance, there were no differences in the neurocognitively impaired group between assessment methods (text message reported frequency = 28%, TLFB reported frequency = 39%; p = .062). Results reveal strong correspondence between TLFB and text message assessment of methamphetamine use. There may be benefits to using text messaging for substance use assessment and opportunities for interventions to improve important health behaviors (e.g. antiretroviral therapy adherence) that are strongly linked to substance use behaviors.

Keywords:

• mHealth
• methamphetamine
• short message service
• HIV/AIDS
• self-report
• mobile phone

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NIDA award R34DA031058 (Moore, PI). Additional infrastructure support was provided by NIDA P50 DA026306 (Igor Grant, PI) and NIMH P30 MH062512 (Robert Heaton, PI). Stipend support to MK is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32AA013525 and National Institute on Aging under Award Number F31 AG074838. VS and JLM were supported by NIDA T32 DA031098; JLM was also supported by R25 MH108389. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.