Brief Telephonic Motivational Interviewing for People Living with HIV with Follow-up Problems

Motivational interviewing (MI)-based interventions can be effective for people living with HIV (PLWHIV) with medical follow-up problems. This study aimed to assess the stage of motivation to attend medical appointments of PLWHIV with medical follow-up problems and to evaluate a single telephone session MI intervention directed to engage them in care. The change in stage was evaluated before and after the intervention, and attending medical appointments was monitored for six months. Thirty-nine PLWHIV participated; 51.3% were in precontemplation/contemplation and 49.7% in preparation/action stage. Most (excluding those in the action stage from the beginning) (n = 22, 71.0%) advanced to another stage after the intervention (z = - 4.235, p < .001), and most did not miss the following appointments. Brief and remote MI interventions could be useful in low-resource settings, especially for those in the early stages of change, to explore motivations related with missing medical appointments.