%0 Journal Article
%T Information and Communication Technology to Link Criminal Justice Reentrants to HIV Care in the Community
%A Ann Kurth
%A Irene Kuo
%A James Peterson
%A Nkiru Azikiwe
%A Lauri Bazerman
%A Alice Cates
%A Curt G. Beckwith
%J AIDS Research and Treatment
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/547381
%X The United States has the worldĄŻs highest prison population, and an estimated one in seven HIV-positive persons in the USA passes through a correctional facility annually. Given this, it is critical to develop innovative and effective approaches to support HIV treatment and retention in care among HIV-positive individuals involved in the criminal justice (CJ) system. Information and communication technologies (ICTs), including mobile health (mHealth) interventions, may offer one component of a successful strategy for linkage/retention in care. We describe CARE+ Corrections, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study now underway in Washington, that will evaluate the combined effect of computerized motivational interview counseling and postrelease short message service (SMS) text message reminders to increase antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and linkage and retention in care among HIV-infected persons involved in the criminal justice system. In this report, we describe the development of this ICT/mHealth intervention, outline the study procedures used to evaluate this intervention, and summarize the implications for the mHealth knowledge base. 1. Introduction The criminal justice system in the USA comprised prisons, jails, and community supervision programs including probation and parole and incarcerates more persons than any other nation in the world which disproportionately affects persons of color, the economically disadvantaged, and those who suffer from mental illness [1, 2]. In 2011, there were close to 7 million persons within the CJ system, among which 1.5 million were in prison, 4.5 million were on probation or parole, and close to 750,000 were held in local jails [3]. Prisons typically incarcerate sentenced individuals for periods of one year or greater, whereas jails incarcerate the majority of persons for short periods of time (days, weeks) before releasing them back to the community. A significant proportion of arrests are related to drug and alcohol use [4], with more than 50% of inmates meeting the DSM-IV criteria for drug dependence or abuse [5]. Due to drug laws and punitive sentencing, the criminal justice system is a nexus for large numbers of substance using individuals, many of whom are living with or are at risk for HIV [6]. It has been estimated that one in seven HIV-infected persons in the USA passes through correctional facilities in a given year [7], and for these persons, release into the community has been shown to be detrimental to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and maintenance of HIV care [8¨C10]. New and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/art/2013/547381/