We assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a multilevel intervention (Kisoboka) to reduce high-risk alcohol use and improve human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment engagement among fisherfolk men in Uganda. A parallel individually randomized controlled pilot trial with follow-up at 3 and 6 months. Five HIV clinics near Ugandan fishing communities. 160 men (80 per arm), aged 18-50, living with HIV, reporting suboptimal antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and high-risk alcohol use, enrolled between January 2021 and March 2022. Kisoboka applies behavioral economic principles and motivational interviewing to address contextual determinants of alcohol use and suboptimal HIV treatment through counseling sessions, text reminders about savings and health goals, and a structural component of assistance setting up mobile money accounts and use of mobile money to receive work pay. The comparator arm (S it showed promising clinically meaningful small to medium size effects on reducing high-risk alcohol use and protected against decreases in antiretroviral therapy adherence in a setting with strong contextual determinants of behavior.
Kiene et al. (Sun,) studied this question.