Abigail Batchelder
Boston University, MA·Public Health & Epidemiology
HIV medicines can suppress the virus so well that it can no longer be detected. This keeps people healthy and prevents them from passing it on.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
people living with HIV
substance use disorders
viral suppression
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Test whether the MATTER intervention, five virtual therapy sessions plus personalized texting and resource navigation, improves viral suppression at 12 months compared with a time-matched control, in a randomized controlled trial of 256 people with HIV and substance use disorders.
- Examine whether MATTER works through its proposed mechanisms, such as reducing the impact of internalized stigma and shame, to inform future stigma-focused interventions.
- Identify what helps and hinders the reach, adoption, delivery and maintenance of MATTER in the Boston and Miami metro areas, using the RE-AIM implementation framework.
More about the research
But people living with HIV who also have substance use disorders (SUDs) are less likely to stay in HIV care, and their virus often rebounds. Behavioral research points to internalized stigma as a key reason. This means people absorb negative beliefs about themselves after hurtful experiences related to drug use and unmet needs, and they often feel shame as a result. These feelings can lead people to miss doses and appointments and to avoid other services they need. This project tests whether reducing that burden helps keep the virus suppressed.
Why it matters
Unsuppressed HIV among people with substance use disorders harms their health and keeps HIV spreading. A scalable, virtually delivered intervention that reduces the effects of stigma and shame could help these patients stay in care and keep the virus suppressed. It could also inform HIV programs in high-priority regions working to end the epidemic.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Rebecca Pearl
University of Florida, FL·Psychology·Early-career
Adapt a group counseling intervention originally designed for one form of health-related stigma so that it generalizes to patients with a range of visible and concealable health conditions.
Sasha Gorrell
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Psychology
Engage youth, caregivers and clinician stakeholders during a preparatory phase to adapt a single-session consultation protocol for families waiting for specialty eating disorder treatment.
Vivian Go
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether the brief alcohol intervention (BAI), counseling based on Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, improves PrEP persistence and adherence in a randomized trial of 564 PrEP users with unhealthy drinking in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The school
Boston University: 26 labs on PI Pages, $784M a year on research, 630 research doctorates a year.
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