Addressing Alcohol Use in HIV Prevention and Care: Behavioral, Social, and Structural Perspectives

Alcohol use remains one of the most prevalent and modifiable behavioral factors influencing HIV prevention, treatment, and long-term health. Across the HIV prevention and care continuum, alcohol use has been associated with increased sexual and substance use risks, lower uptake and persistence of HIV prevention strategies, delayed HIV diagnosis, reduced engagement in care, suboptimal antiretroviral therapy adherence, and poorer viral suppression. Beyond individual behaviors, alcohol use intersects with mental health, stigma, social determinants of health, and structural barriers to healthcare, creating complex challenges that influence HIV outcomes across diverse populations. As innovations in HIV prevention and treatment continue to improve health and longevity, there is an increasing need to better understand how alcohol use shapes these advances and to identify effective, evidence-based approaches that address its impact across multiple levels of influence. The goal of this Research Topic is to advance understanding of the behavioral, clinical, social, and structural dimensions of alcohol use in HIV prevention and care. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions spanning epidemiology, behavioral and implementation science, clinical and health services research (provided it addresses population-level outcomes and public health relevance), community-engaged research, and health policy that examine the role of alcohol use in HIV prevention and care across diverse populations and settings. We encourage submissions that investigate mechanisms linking alcohol use to HIV-related outcomes, evaluate interventions and models of care, explore social and structural determinants, and identify strategies to improve HIV prevention, engagement in care, treatment outcomes, and healthy aging. By bringing together research across disciplines, this collection aims to generate new insights and inform future research, care delivery, and public health efforts to reduce the burden of alcohol use within the context of HIV prevention and care.Suitable themes for manuscripts include, but are not limited to: 1. Behavioral, social, structural, and health-systems determinants of alcohol use and HIV prevention and care outcomes. 2. The impact of alcohol use across the HIV prevention and care continuum, including HIV acquisition risk, HIV testing, PrEP uptake and adherence, engagement in care, antiretroviral therapy adherence, viral suppression, and healthy aging. 3. Development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to prevent or reduce alcohol-related harms and improve HIV prevention and care. 4. Community-engaged, implementation, and health services research to improve the accessibility, integration, and delivery of A) alcohol-related services within HIV prevention and care settings; and/or B) HIV prevention and care services within alcohol and substance use treatment settings. 5. Health equity and disparities in alcohol use and HIV prevention and care, including the influence of stigma, discrimination, social determinants of health, and public policy. 6. Alcohol use among populations disproportionately affected by HIV, including sexual and gender minority populations, women, adolescents and young adults, older adults, people who use drugs, and racially and ethnically marginalized communities. Topic editors: Jacob Bleasdale, Natalie E Chichetto, Drew A. Westmoreland, MSPH, PhD Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84265/addressing-alcohol-use-in-hiv-prevention-and-care-behavioral-social-and-structural-perspectives