IMPAACT 2016 Expert Trainer Training Underway
Four Indigenous Youth Leaders (IYL), ages 22-24 years old, from Soweto, South Africa recently participated in a two-week training on the trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy (TI-CBT) intervention which they will provide to their younger peers living with HIV.
IMPAACT 2016 is a randomized controlled study examining if a trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy (TI-CBT) intervention delivered by Indigenous Youth Leaders (IYL) living with HIV improves mental health outcomes and ART adherence for 15-19 year-olds living with HIV in low-resource settings. The study is taking place in eight sites across four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Four IYL, ages 22-24 years old, from Soweto, South Africa recently participated in a two-week training on the TI-CBT intervention which they will provide to their younger peers also living with HIV. The intervention addresses health concerns related to HIV, adherence strategies, CBT, relaxation techniques, how thoughts influence feelings and behaviors (T-F-B), and how to change unhelpful/unhealthy T-F-B to helpful/healthy T-F-B. The intervention also includes psycho-education about gender-based violence, gender roles, coping with stress and safe sex practices.
Three adult study staff participated in a condensed training, including a selection of the above-mentioned activities, which they will provide to the youths’ caregivers. Beyond this intensive training, locally-trained staff will supervise the IYL and adults as they practice and deliver the intervention. The supervisors will have support through a Cascading Supervision Model during which they will have calls with the Expert Trainer to discuss session activities as well as successes and challenges throughout the intervention.
The team looks forward to additional trainings for IYL and adult study staff in Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe soon!