A Behavioral mHealth Intervention for People With HIV With Anxiety and Depression

The investigators will conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of an adapted community health worker (CWH)-delivered positive affect counselling intervention delivered remotely via mHealth. The adapted intervention will include CHW-delivered positive affect skill-based counseling accessible through video call that will be accessible through the mHealth app. The CHW will conduct approximately 5 weekly individual 60-minute counseling sessions via a secure video call feature. If the participant does not have symptomatic improvement, the CHW will refer the participant to a licensed mental health professional. Participants will be randomized to receive access to the counselling intervention that also includes modified features of the mHealth app with increased mental health resources (intervention arm) or to current standard of mental health care that includes the unmodified version of the app (control arm). Participants allocated to the intervention arm will receive the counseling intervention approximately weekly for 5 weeks. The study will continue to abstract data from participants' EMR and mHealth app for approximately 6 months after enrollment. To assess preliminary effectiveness, the investigators will analyze differences by condition in anxiety and depression (primary outcome). Informed consent will be obtained prior to study participation.

Inclusion criteria

• HIV diagnosis
• GAD-7 score of 5 or greater
• PHQ-8 score of 5 or greater

Exclusion criteria

• Active psychosis
• Suicidal ideation