Preparing for Pharmacy-based Delivery of Long-acting Injectable Antiretroviral Therapy (LAI-ART)

BACKGROUND: Long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LAI-ART) is poised to revolutionize HIV treatment and prevention. Community pharmacies could serve as another place for people with HIV to get their ART injections. However, pharmacist and healthcare practitioner attitudes towards pharmacist administration of LAI-ART are understudied. Financial and human resources, pharmacist training, or changes in workflow have not been outlined. Little is known about whether patients will accept ART injections given in pharmacies. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this project is to address the above knowledge gaps. The information generated can assist in the development of tools that can help scale community pharmacy-based delivery of LAI-ART. METHODS: Using a mixed-methods approach to better understand the pre-implementation environment, the study will employ electronic surveys and will administer semi-structured interviews via telephone for three key stakeholder groups: HIV clinic staff members, community pharmacists, and persons with HIV. Surveys will assess the appropriateness, acceptability, and feasibility of LAI-ART administration in community pharmacies. A semi-structured interview guide has been developed using constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Comparisons between and across stakeholder groups will be performed, looking for common themes as well as discrepancies.