Trial results for the Prevention and Risk: Treatment With a New Emphasis on Relationships (PARTNER) intervention, aimed at HIV risk reduction, were posted on 2025-10-29. Key analyses indicated no statistically significant impact on illicit drug use or cannabis use days among participants.
Background
HIV remains a significant public health concern, particularly among young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Effective prevention strategies are crucial, including promoting Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake and adherence, reducing HIV transmission risk behaviors, and addressing associated drug use. Interventions tailored to individuals in relationships are explored as a method to enhance these outcomes.
Trial design
This completed study, with an enrollment of 196 participants, investigated conditions including Adherence, Medication, Risk Reduction, Drug Use, Sex, Anal, and HIV/AIDS. The trial examined the efficacy of an individually-delivered intervention, termed PARTNER, which utilized a brief (4 session) motivational interviewing format. This intervention targeted PrEP uptake/adherence, HIV transmission risk behavior, and associated drug use. A comparator arm, referred to as the Education Intervention, was also included.
Key results
The trial reported on several key measurements related to drug use:
- Illicit Drug Use Days:
- For the Partner Intervention group, mean illicit drug use days were 1.49 (Standard Deviation 5.37), 1.16 (Standard Deviation 3.83), 0.67 (Standard Deviation 1.79), 1.08 (Standard Deviation 3.62), and 0.66 (Standard Deviation 1.49).
- For the Education Intervention group, mean illicit drug use days were 0.80 (Standard Deviation 2.14), 0.83 (Standard Deviation 2.3), 0.56 (Standard Deviation 1.29), 0.81 (Standard Deviation 2.30), and 0.67 (Standard Deviation 1.55).
- Cannabis Use Days:
- For the Partner Intervention group, mean cannabis use days were 9.68 (Standard Deviation 11.25).
- For the Education Intervention group, mean cannabis use days were 7.59 (Standard Deviation 10.64).
Key analyses using the Latent Growth Curve method showed no statistically significant differences in the slopes for various outcomes:
- A slope of 0.372 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.558, 1.302]) had a p-value of 0.433.
- Another slope of -0.017 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.121, 0.087]) had a p-value of 0.749.
- A slope of 0.073 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.121, 0.087]) had a p-value of 0.302.
- A slope of 0.027 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.182, 0.236]) had a p-value of 0.799.
- A slope of -0.211 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.514, 0.092]) had a p-value of 0.173.
- A final slope of 0.427 (95.0% confidence interval: [-0.186, 1.04]) had a p-value of 0.172.
What this means
The analyses of the PARTNER intervention, which focused on reducing HIV risk behaviors and drug use, did not demonstrate a statistically significant impact on illicit drug use days or cannabis use days when compared to the education intervention. The reported p-values for the latent growth curve analyses were all above 0.05, indicating that the observed differences in trends over time were not statistically significant. This suggests that, based on these specific drug use outcomes, the PARTNER intervention did not show a measurable advantage over the education intervention in modifying drug use patterns.
Source
The information for these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for the study NCT03396367, titled "Prevention and Risk: Treatment With a New Emphasis on Relationships", were posted on 2025-10-29 on clinicaltrials.gov.