A Qualitative Study Identifying Behavioral Science Communication Strategies to Improve Client Engagement and HIV...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) are crucial for HIV prevention but increasingly use empathy over evidence-based client engagement strategies.
• This reliance on empathy, coupled with training gaps, leads to reduced client engagement and decreased provider wellbeing.
• Research is needed to identify current, overlooked, and needed communication strategies for DIS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and evaluate communication strategies used by DIS for client engagement in HIV prevention.
• To assess the alignment of current DIS strategies with behavioral science theory and research.
• To determine areas where DIS require additional support for effective client engagement.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with DIS at a city health department.
• Identified the range of client engagement strategies currently employed by DIS.
• Analyzed strategies in relation to established behavioral science principles.

Main Results:

• Identified 26 distinct strategies across Empathy, Emotion Regulation, Persuasion, and Partnership clusters.
• Most utilized strategies included Cognitive/Compassionate Empathy and Logistical Support.
• Least utilized strategies were Change Talk and Seeking Collaboration, indicating underuse of persuasion and partnership approaches.

Conclusions:

• DIS underutilize evidence-based approaches like motivational interviewing, favoring emotionally demanding strategies.
• Overreliance on empathy can compromise provider wellbeing and limit client behavior change optimization.
• Systematic training in evidence-based communication strategies can enhance client engagement and provider sustainability.