International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 6, June 2016

ISSN 2250-3153

477

A step-wedge simple randomized trial to assess the use of

Case Managers to Increase Linkage to HIV Care and
Early retention of Newly Diagnosed HIV-positive Persons
at a regional Referral Hospital in Western, Kenya
Burmen B, Mutai K
Kenya Medical Research Institute Center for Global Health Research

Abstract- Linkage of newly diagnosed HIV positive individuals

to HIV care and treatment services is essential to initiate
lifesaving antiretroviral therapy and thereby reduce HIV
transmission. However, program data has shown that only 38%
of newly diagnosed HIV patients in Kenya are linked to care.
Case management model, a model with proven efficacy, uses
case managers to provide strength based counseling that enable
individuals identify their internal strengths and assets needed to
facilitate linkage and enhance retention. This evaluation seeks to
test the efficacy of using case managers in increasing linkage and
early retention to HIV care among newly diagnosed HIV positive
individuals at a referral hospital in Western Kenya within one
year and including a six month follow up period by comparing
linkage and retention rates among HIV infected persons who
receive case managers to those who did not. A step-wedged
design will be employed at 12 of the 24 hospital departments.
This will be done by introducing the intervention in a phased
approach by testing site. A minimum of 672 HIV infected
persons will be recruited. Linkage to care will be defined as a
recorded encounter at the HIV clinics enrolment registry.
Participants will be considered retained in care after attending
two or more visits over a six month period. Data on participant
characteristics, linkage and retention proportions and their
associated factors will be analyzed in the early and late
intervention groups. Results from this evaluation will provide
information on improving linkage and retention rates among HIV
infected patients.
Index Terms- HIV, Phased-approach, engagement in HIV care

I. BACKGROUND

A. Introduction
n 2014, 36.9 million people were living with HIV globally;
there were 2.0 million new infectiosn and 1.2 million deaths [1].
In 2015, 2009 indicated that only around 49% of PLHIV in low
and middle income coutnries who are in need of ART are
actually on ART [2]. According to the Kenya Demographic and
Health Survey of 2012, the national HIV prevalence among
persons aged 15-64 years was 5.6%. In the same survey, Kisumu
County of Kenya had a HIV prevalence of 18% [3].
In Africa, linkages rates among newly diagnosed HIV
patients range from 23%-50% [4-6]. HIV treatment programs
from Low and Middle Income Countries have an attrition rate of

21% six months after enrolment into HIV care [7]. In Kenya,
53% of HIV infected persons are not aware of their HIV
infection. About 89% persons country-wide aged 15-64 years
who were aware of their HIV infection were on care, 88% of
those eligible for Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) were on ART;
only 43% of those who initiated care remained in care [8]. At the
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital
(JOOTRH), a regional referral hospital in Western Kenya, only
38% of HIV infected persons are linked HIV care, and 83% of
them are retained in care within 1-2 months, 76% within 3-4
months, and 61% within a one year period (L.Nguti, personal
communication, October 22, 2014).
HIV test and treat strategies aim to mitigate the effects of
HIV by increasing the coverage of HIV testing services, linking
those tested to relevant HIV prevention, care and treatment
services and ensure those linked to these services are managed
appropriately [9]. This has been emphasized in UNAIDS recent
90-90-90 treatment targets that aims to eliminate HIV by 2030
[10]. HIV testing is postulated to decrease HIV transmission by
decreasing risky sexual behavior among all persons tested and
decrease viral load among those who test HIV positive after ART
initiation [11]. Delayed presentation or non-retention in HIV care
places HIV-infected clients at risk for elevated morbidity and
mortality [12] and reduces the long term benefits of ART as
prevention [13].
Linkage to care has been defined as attending one or more
clinic visits [14], documented CD4 T- cell counts results or
[15] or a scheduled visit with a health care provider who can
manage ART [16, 17] all within 6 months of HIV diagnosis.
HIV biomarkers (CD4 count and plasma HIV viral load) are
often evidence of a completed visit at a HIV clinic [18] . Other
measures include, records of missed visits [17, 19], appointment
adherence [20], visit constancy [19] and gaps in care [21].
Strength-based counseling, a strategy that includes building
patient-provider
relationships,
improving
family-patient
relationships, identifying clients strengths, providing information
and education, [22] and use of patient navigators [23], has been
successfully used to improve linkage to HIV care after diagnoses
[24]. JOOTRH which has low linkage and retention rates does
not routinely use case managers. There is a need to test the
efficacy of using case managers to improve linkage and early
retention of newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients at JOOTRH.
B. Study Objectives
General objectives
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To compare linkage and retention rates in care among newly

diagnosed HIV-infected persons who have received case
managers versus those who have not received case managers.
Specific objectives
1. To compare time from HIV diagnosis to first encounter
(presentation at the HIV clinic registry) for newly
diagnosed HIV-infected persons who have received case
managers versus those who have not yet received case
managers.
2. To compare proportion of patients enrolled to HIV care
at the JOOTRH PSC among newly diagnosed HIVinfected persons who have received case managers
versus those who have not yet received case managers.
3. To compare the attrition rates at enrolment, months two,
four and six among newly diagnosed HIV-infected
persons who have received case managers versus those
who have not yet received case managers at the
JOOTRH PSC.
4. To describe factors predictive of linkage among newly
diagnosed HIV-infected patients and retention among
newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients enrolled in care
at JOOTRH PSC within the implementation period of
the case managers intervention.
5. To describe barriers to enrolment into HIV care for
newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients and barriers to
retention among newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients
enrolled in care at JOOTRH PSC within the
implementation period of the case managers
intervention.

II.

METHODOLOGY

A. Study design and setting

A step-wedge design will be used to implement and
evaluate the efficacy of using case managers to improve linkage
and early retention to HIV care and treatment at JOOTRH. The
intervention will be implemented sequentially to participants
over a specified time period. By the end of the implementation
period, all the participants will have received the intervention

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[25]. The step-wedge design was chosen due to ethical, logistical

and financial concerns. Since the intervention has been proven to
work elsewhere, it would be unethical to deny some patients the
intervention. Additionally, it was difficult to identify an
alternative health facility to act as a control that would be
comparable to JOOTRH in terms of support service package e.g.
phone reminders on appointment dates, phone/home tracing of
clients who fail to honour appointments, use of community
health workers to monitor ART and to provide daily observed
treatment for special populations (people of unsound mind),
group therapy before and after enrolment,. Financial constrains
also prevented the implementation of the intervention across all
departments all at once. This thus justified the phased-approach
to introducing the intervention at JOOTRH.
JOOTRH is a regional HIV referral facility accessible to
Western Kenya and parts of Rift Valley regions. The hospital is
located in the Southwest region of the country bordering Lake
Victoria. It serves a population in excess of 5 million people and
has a bed capacity of 457 with occupancy of approximately 95%
[8]. Annually, it offers outpatient services to over 250,000
persons and inpatient services to approximately 21,000 persons.
HTC services are offered to both patients and visitors at all
service delivery points in the hospital. In 2011, approximately
6,000 persons were tested for HIV at the JOOTRH; 6.3% of
persons never tested before they tested HIV positive [26].
JOOTRH has 24 departments where HIV testing is
conducted. Only 12 of these departments will be used as
evaluation sites, although all the 24 departments shall eventually
implement the patient-linkage intervention. The 12 evaluationdepartments shall be matched according to whether they are
ambulatory or inpatient, and also whether the majority of the
clients are men or women (Table 1). We shall purposively select
one member of each pair into an early intervention group while
the other will be in the midterm intervention group. The
remaining departments, which do not form part of the 12
evaluation sites, will comprise the late-intervention group; data
from the late-intervention group shall not be used in this
evaluation.

Table 1: Assignment of departments into intervention phases

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

PHASE 3

Consultant clinic

Children OPD

TB/HIV

ANC

Post natal clinic

Dental

Clinical room 8

VCT

FP
Clinical room 9
GBVRC

IPD

OPD

Mortuary
ENT
Male Surgical

Male Medical

Gynecology ward

Maternity

Eye Clinic

Female Surgical

Children IPD

Casualty

Female Medical

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Eye Ward
Oncology ward
The intervention will implemented every three months until full
coverage of all hospital units is achieved over a nine month
period. Implementation will start in six units while 18 units
continue to provide routine services. After a three month period,
the units will be increased to 12 units and the remaining 12 units
will continue to provide routine services. Finally, the intervention
will be scaled to the remaining 12 units over a three month

period. The intervention will continue to be implemented in the

whole facility even after the end of the study period. All clients
will be followed up for a period of 6 months. (Table 2).

Table 2: The step wedge design phases

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B. Study population
Participants will be;
1) Patients, visitors or persons accompanying patients who
are drawn from the hospitals catchment area and opt to
access HIV care and treatment services at JOOTRH.
i.
Criteria for inclusion of subjects
Newly diagnosed HIV positive clients will be eligible for
inclusion in the study if;

Aged 18 years and above.

Mature minors aged 15-17 years.
Reside in the JOOTRH catchment area.
Selected JOOTRH as their preferred referral
hospital for HIV care.
Able to speak English, Kiswahili, or Dholuo.
Willing and able to provide informed consent
for participation.
Was
attending
the
facility
as
an
outpatient/visitor or had accompanied a patient
to the facility.
ii.
Criteria for exclusion of subjects
Patients and persons who are unable to
understand or provide informed consent.
If it is observed that the person giving consent
is possibly under the influence of alcohol and
drugs, since participants judgment and
behavior may impair the validity of consent.
Persons not drawn from the catchment area.
Person who opts to access HIV care and
treatment services elsewhere.
In patients, some of whom may be drawn from
outside Kisumu (and may prefer to access HIV
care at other facilities) since JOOTRH is a
referral hospital. The length of hospital stay
may also be a hindrance to their inclusion.
C. Sample size determination
This was computed based on methods for sample size
computation for stepped-wedge cluster randomized trials [27-30]
. This entailed obtaining a standard sample size for an individualrandomized trial and multiplying it by the design effect to yield
the required sample size.
The current linkage rate is 58% (control arm). The
intervention is expected to increase the linkage rate by 20%
(intervention arm). Using a power of 80%, a two-sided level of
significance of 5% and a standard sample size equation for an
individual-randomized trial on using STATA version 13.1, this
yielded a sample size of 85 patients per arm.

From JOOTRH data, under standard care, the interdepartment (inter-cluster) variation in rates

( ) , is 0.1042. The
2
b

mean of linkage rates ( p ) between the control (58%) and

intervention (78%) groups is 68%. The intra-department
variance

( ), given as, p (1- p ), is 0.2176.

2
w

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The intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) calculated

using the formula below is 0.3239.

b2
b2 + w2

To obtain the desired sample size for our stepped-wedge

cluster randomized trial, we multiply the standard sample size
estimate by a design effect (Deff). Where m is the average
number of individuals per departments (assuming all departments
are of equal size) is 10 and is the intra-cluster correlation
coefficient.

Deff = 1 + (m 1)

The design effect is 3.9.

The design effect (3.9) will be multiplied by the standard
sample size per arm (85) to yield a sample size of 331.5 per arm.
A sample size of 331.5 implies a total of 27.6 patients per
department per arm since the study will be conducted in 12
departments. This is rounded off to a minimum of 28 patients per
department. We will then have 56 in each department (28 in the
control/pre-implementation arm and 28 in the intervention
arm/implementation arm) giving a minimum sample size of 672
patients.
D. Sampling techniques
In the intervention arm, in each department, the 28 patients
will consecutively be recruited. In the control arm, the 28
patients per department will consecutively be recruited too.
Approximately 2-5 patients will be recruited daily in each
department depending on the patient-volume.
E. Study Procedures
Standard procedures for HIV management at JOOTRH for the
control arm
Standard procedures for HIV diagnosis at the HTC point
At JOOTRH, patients who have sought outpatient services and
hospital visitors are usually offered HTC services by individuals
certified by the National AIDS and STI Control Programme
(NASCOP) to offer HIV testing and counseling.
Newly diagnosed HIV positive persons (patients/ visitors/ or
people accompanying patients to the hospital) then undergo the
following procedures in order to facilitate their linkage to care;
1. Obtaining their contact details which indicate their
residence and directions to their workplace and and how
the patient could be reached.Contact details also
included a phone number.
2. An inquiry on where they wish to obtaing HIV care and
treatment services. If the person is drawn from
JOOTRHs catchment area, he or she has an option to
also attend the HIV clinic at JOOTRH.
3. HIV infected persons are then referred to the HIV
clinics of their choice and are advised to go there within
2-4 weeks. Those who do not return for subsequent
visits are called no show.
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4.

A follow-up phone call and/or home visit is made for

persons who opted to receive HIV care and treatment
services at JOOTRH who fail to turn up at the HIV
clinic for enrolment within 4 weeks of a positive HIV
diagnosis. This is done by peer educators and
Community Health Workers (CHWs) with a view to
determine reasons for no showand to further
encourage linkage to care.

Standard procedures for HIV care and treatmetn at the HIV

clinic
1. Upon arrival at the JOOTRH clinic, newly
diagnosed HIV-infected persons presents referral
forms at the reception, their names are entered in
the pre-enrolment register, and cards with a preenrolment identity (ID) numbers are issued. These
cards are then used in subsequent appointments.
2. The newly-diagnosed HIV-infected persons are
then asked to attend a group counseling session
where they are briefed on the clinic procedures and
HIV care and treatment.
3. HIV infected persons are then requested to return
for a second group counseling session within seven
days when an enrolment ID number is issued and
baseline laboratory tests (including CD4 counts) are
ordered; they are then asked to return to pick results
within 3- 5 days.
4. When they return, they are seen by a clinician and
results of the laboratory tests are reviewed.
Subsequently, they are initiated on the appropriate
treatment and appointments are scheduled for the
next visit. Those who do not return for any
subsequent visits after the initial visit are called no
return.
5. If an appointment during the pre-enorlment phase is
not honored, follow-up phone calls and/or home
visits are made by peer educators and CHWs using
the contacts provided at registration. This is done to
determine the reasons for no return and to further
encourage return to care. Tracing outcomes are
then documented and patient clinic records updated.
6. Client exit interviews and patient flow analysis are
periodically carried out as quality assurance
measures.
The intervention arm: Case Managers Intervention at the
JOOTRH Patient Support Centre
Strength based case management uses of trained personnel
to enable clients identify their internal strengths and barriers to
successful linkage to HIV care [24]. Peer educators, who already
have basic knowledge on HIV and trained in HIV counseling,
will be recruited as case managers. They will receive refresher
training on basic HIV counseling and on the study procedures.
They will then be responsible for the following;
- Assisting newly diagnosed HIVinfected persons who
select to attend the JOOTRH HIV clinic to navigate the
hospital system.
- Providing strength-based counseling to identify and
mitigate risk factors for non-enrolment/missed

481

appointments. These factors, which will be identified

during the counseling sessions, include disbelief of HIV
serostatus, discomfort or negative perceptions of health
care system or health care provider [31], feeling of
wellness [32] lack of transportation [33], limited social
support [34], alcoholism [35] and HIV stigma [36].
- Escorting the patient to ensure enrolment at the PSC.
- Maintaining contact with the client from HIV diagnosis
up to six months post enrolment to provide continuous
education on HIV related issues such as the basics on
HIV disease, HIV disease progression, HIV care/ART,
adherence, nutrition, and address the clients HIV and
health related concerns such as disclosure and stigma.
- Conducting follow up for no show to determine
reasons for presenting at the HIV clinic, and no return
to determine reasons for not attending the next
scheduled appointments. A maximum of 8 telephone
attempts over a four week period will be made before
concluding a no return. Up to three home follow up
attempts will be made to conclude a home visit for
persons who could not traced by phone.
Implementation of the Case Managers Intervention at the
JOOTRH HIV Clinic
Patients enrolling in HIV care shortly after HIV diagnosis
(within 4 weeks)
1. All newly diagnosed HIV positive persons will be
assigned to a case manager who will be responsible for
supporting them unitl enrolment at the HIV clinic and at
months one, three and six after enrolment.
2. Immediately following HIV diagnosis, the case manager
will assist newly diagnosed HIV positive persons who
were referred to the JOOTRH HIV clinic, to navigate
the hospital and to have the clinical issues that brought
them addressed.
3. The Case manager will then provide strength based
counseling to identify and mitigate risk factors for nonenrolment/missed appointments.
4. The Case manager will guide the newly diagnosed HIV
infected person for pre-enrolment counseling (as
described in the standard procedure) and ensure the
patients is registered at the pre-enrolment registry
5. The Case manager is responsible for all tracking all
subsequent follow up visits through telephone calls and
home follow up (if necessary) until all scheduled visits
within a 6 months period after enrolment have been
honored.
6. The case manager will maintain contact with the newly
diagnosed HIV infected person from time of HIV
diagnosis up to six months post enrolment, provide
continuous education on HIV related issues and address
the clients HIV and health related concerns.
7. The case manager will conduct phone follow up for
clients who fail to return for appointments (no return)
after enrolment to determine reasons for no return. He
will attempt to contact the participants on phone on
eight different days over a four week period for a
missed appointment. He will also conduct home visits to
clients not traced by phone; up to three home follow up
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attempts over a four week period will be made to

conclude a home visit.
Patients who delay enrolling in HIV care after HIV diagnosis
(after 4 weeks) no show
1. The case manager assigned to a newly diagnosed HIV
infected person will conduct phone follow up for clients
who fail to enroll for HIV care within four weeks after
HIV diagnosis (no show) to determine reasons for not
initiating care after enrolment. The case manager will
attempt to contact him/her on eight different days over a
four week period. Homevisits to will be carried out for
persons not traced by phone; up to three home follow up
attempts over a four week period will be made to
conclude a home visit. Procedures 1-7 will be followed
for persons who opt to enroll at the JOOTRH HIV clinic
who are found on tracing.
F. Randomization
Upon diagnosis, newly diagnosed persons will be
systematically randomized to either the standard of care or
Case managers intervention. The sampling interval will be
two i.e. every second person diagnosed with HIV at each
department is assigned to the intervention while the other gets the
standard of care [37].
G. Outcome
The core-primary outcomes will be:
1) Documented linkage to HIV care. Linkage to HIV care
will be defined as established encounter with the JOOTRH PSC
at the pre-enrolment registry with the first initial CD4 result
collected.
2) Documented retention to HIV care. Early retention in
HIV care will be defined as attending two or more HIV clinic
visits over a six month period.
3) Time-to-enrollment at PSC. Time-to-enrollment is
defined as the difference between date of diagnosis and date of
first presentation at the PSC.
H. Statiscial methods
Data collection
Quantitative data
The study data will consist of the information present in the
registers that health providers routinely collect at each patient
encounter using a set of pre-existing standardized forms or other
type of medical record. These forms and data are based on the
Kenyan national guidelines on HIV testing and counseling
(HTC) and HIV care and treatment.
Initially, data on linkage and retention rate within a two
month period during which routine services are offered will
provide baseline information on which to compare subsequent
phases of the study. Evaluation of linkage and early retention
will be made through a 6-months follow up period for patients
enrolled during the early and mid-term intervention groups. This
will be compared among patients in the case managers group and
those receiving routine services.
Data will be collected from all the 12 evaluation
departments for a period of 13 months. The month at which we
will begin data collection, shall be considered month-one.

482

Information deemed relevant to the studys objectives that

will be abstracted will include records of HIV diagnosis, HIV
care/ART initiation. These will include patient demographics
(e.g. name, date of birth, occupation, etc), data of HIV diagnosis,
referral source, date of enrolment into HIV care or treatment,
date of first CD4 count, date of subsequent care/ART visit, health
services they are receiving (including ART, prophylaxis,
diagnosis, treatment of opportunistic infections, etc), CD4 count
values and data from patient satisfaction surveys and patient flow
analysis. This information will be collected using either
scannable forms or sourced directly from the EMR system.
Each participant will be assigned a unique identifier. Any
time the participant shows up for a visit and is part of the study,
his/her unique identifier will indicate that they are part of the
study.
Additional data will be collected from no show/no return
study participants using structured questionnaires which will be
administered by trained case managers.
Qualitative data
Study interviews will be conducted by case managers for;
- Persons who selected JOOTRH as their preferred
referral HIV clinic but failed to show up within 4 weeks
of testing at the intervention sites; also known as noshow clients
- Persons who initiated HIV care at JOOTRH and missed
any appointment within six months of enrolment at the
intervention sites; also known as no-return
Data analysis
Data will be exported into STATA 13.1/SAS 9.2 Software
for analysis. The explanatory variables will include patients age,
gender, date of HIV diagnosis, CD4 count at enrolment, and
location of residence amongst others. Socio-demographic and
clinical characteristics of the study participants will be described
using descriptive statistics. Categorical variables will be
compared using chi-square test and, where appropriate, the
Fisher exact test. Continuous variables will be compared using ttest and, where applicable, the Wilcoxon test. The primary
analysis will be at the individual-level and the secondary analysis
will be at the department-level.
We will employ data analysis methods for stepped-wedge
cluster randomized design [38-40]. For the individual-level
analysis in the linkage to HIV care outcome, we will compare
proportion linked to HIV care between the two arms using Mixed
Effects Regression Models. The departments and calendar-time
will be considered as the random effects variables the other
covariates will be fixed effects. This model, in essence, will
account for clustering within departments and time effects. We
will also explore potential interaction between department and
calendar-time. Potential factors predictive of linkage to care will
be assessed from the model. For the department-level analysis,
weighted t-test will be employed. The t-test will be weighted by
the number of patients per department since we anticipate the
number of participants per departments will vary. The intentionto-treat analysis will be employed. Analysis of retention to HIV
care outcome will be analogous to the linkage to HIV care
outcome.

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For the time-to-enrollment outcome, Kaplan Meier curves

will be used to describe time-to-enrollment at the PSC. The Log
rank test will be used to determine differences in time-toenrollment between comparison groups. Cox proportional
hazards regression model will be used to evaluate the association
between time-to-enrollment at the PSC and covariates such as
patients age, gender, date of HIV diagnosis, CD4 count at
enrolment, and location of residence. Statistical analysis will be
performed using STATA version 13.1 (StataCorp, College
Station, Texas, USA) and p-value of less than 0.05 will be used
to define statistical significance.
To evaluate factors influencing linkage to HIV care for the
qualitative data, content analysis of the transcripts will be coded
and thematically analyzed using NVIVO version 8 software.
Deductive and inductive codes will be used. Ranking of
identified factors will be performed using participants response
density as well as the Delphi process of investigator assessment.
I. Ethical considerations
Informed Consent of Participants
After a HIV positive diagnosis and prior to recruitment to
the study, the Counselor and participant will go through the
informed consent process. An informed oral consent will be
required for participation in the study. The informed consent
process will be administered in the language the participant feels
most comfortable, in English, Kiswahili or Dholuo. The
participant will be informed of the new referral procedures as
described in the intervention. A detailed description of all
procedures including period of study will be explained.
Confidentiality of data
No personal identifiers will be collected for the data
analysis. The study team will take measures to ensure that all the
information collected remain private. All data collected will be
kept secured, in locked storage spaces or in password-protected
files and computers for the digital files. Furthermore, all staff
will be trained in ethical procedures and measures to protect
confidentiality; they will be required to sign confidentiality
agreements.
Institutional Review Board oversight
Ethical approval for the conduct of this study will be sought
and obtained from the KEMRI and JOOTRH ethical review
committees. A request will be made to CDC for reliance as per
the KEMRI-CDC blanket reliance agreement.

III. DISCUSSION
A. Potential risk to participants
Primarily, participants risk loss of privacy. This loss of
privacy may result from disclosing personal information before
and after HIV testing procedures or simply from being seen
participating in the study. The choice of preferred referral site
will not alter the services to be offered at during HIV testing.
B. Potential benefits to study participations
Participants will have the opportunity to access HTC
services and to be referred to relevant HIV health services. All
the participants who opt to initiate HIV care and treatment at

483

JOOTRH will be assigned a case manager to support them in

navigating the health care system until care is initiated. This
participant will also benefit from regular phone follow up to
ensure he/she is retained in care.
The main benefit for participants in this study will be their
contribution to informing, and improving HIV prevention, care,
and treatment interventions among HIV-positive clients. In
addition to the direct benefits from their participation,
participants may indirectly benefit from the improvement of HIV
prevention, care, and treatment services within their
communities. As such, the potential risks of participating in this
assessment are offset by the benefits to the individual
participants and the wider community.
C. Study limitations and potential sources of bias
There is a probability of contamination between patients in
the intervention arm (case managers) and patients in the control
arm (standard care) during the conduct of the study when these
patients meet at the HIV clinic, support group meetings and
outside the hospital. We will attempt to mitigate this by a large
sample size based on within and between cluster differences and
the design effect.
The step wedge design is biased due to different lengths of
duration allocated to the control and intervention arms of each
unit/participant in the study. We will control for this by doing a
contemporaneous analysis across clusters (see data analysis
section).
There is a possibility of selection bias in the units that are
selected for implementation of the intervention. We have
attempted to reduce this via stratification of the units in order to
have an equal representation of ambulatory and in patient units
and both genders.
The data analysis method may overestimate or
underestimate standard errors; to counteract this, analysis will be
done at the individual level and the cluster level (departmental).
D. Expected application of results
The primary purpose of this intervention is to increase
linkage and early retention in care of newly positive HIV
persons. In addition, data concerning the barriers to accessing
HIV care will enable improvement of service. Findings from the
study will be presented to JOOTRH and personnel providing care
to the population. Findings may also be disseminated through
conference presentations, abstracts, and/or peer-reviewed journal
publications. The data will be owned by KEMRI/CDC. Data
will available to other organizations upon request.
No
identifying information will be collected; therefore, all of the
disseminated results will be anonymous.
We anticipate demonstrating the efficacy of using case
managers in improving linkage and retention in HIV care among
newly diagnosed HIV- infected persons. The intervention will be
scaled up to other departments within JOOTRH should it realize
the desired results.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to acknowledge the contribution of the Kenya
Ministry of Health, including the National AIDS and STI Control

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Program, the JOOTRH administration and the KEMRI Director

for their collaboration.
Competing interests: None

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AUTHORS
First Author Barbara Burmen, , MBChB, MPH, PHDS,
Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centers for Global Health
Research, (KEMRI, CGHR) Kisumu, Kenya
[email protected]
www.ijsrp.org

International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 6, June 2016
ISSN 2250-3153

Second Author Kennedy Mutai,MSc Applied Statistics, Kenya

Medical Research Institute/Centers for Global Health Research,
(KEMRI, CGHR) Kisumu, Kenya [email protected]

485

Coordinator, Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centers for

Global Health Research, (KEMRI, CGHR) Kisumu, Kenya,
Busia Road, Kisumu,P.O. Box 1578-40100, Kisumu, Phone:
+254722983432,Email: [email protected]

Correspondence Author Barbara Burmen, MBChB, MPH,

PHDS, Senior Research Officer, Implementation Science

www.ijsrp.org