Digital Interventions for Stimulant Use Among People Living with HIV: A Narrative Review

Stimulant use, which includes use of cocaine and methamphetamine, is known to worsen care outcomes among people living with HIV (PLWH). The rise of stimulant use in the United States (US) in the last decade is a threat to the US plan of Ending the HIV Epidemic. Digital interventions - including those delivered through web- and mobile phone-based modalities - may mitigate the scale of stimulant use among PLWH, thereby disrupting HIV transmission attributable to it. We sought to understand the state of digital interventions for stimulant use among populations of PLWH, with the goal of highlighting opportunities to expand such public health responses to stimulant use.

Overall, digital interventions for stimulant use among PLWH appear feasible, clinically effective, and cost-effective. The state of these advancements has not been thoroughly examined or summarized to date. Since 2010, 17 publications have examined the feasibility, acceptability, and/or effectiveness of digital interventions for stimulant use among PLWH. The ubiquity of smartphones and opportunity to offer such interventions alongside HIV care services highlight the need for future research in this area, particularly those that target populations with suboptimal HIV care outcomes and who may benefit most from digital intervention modalities.