Updates from 2nd Generation URBAN ARCH HIV/Alcohol P01s

This past fall, the ARCHER team has continued to recruit, screen, enroll, and collect data for the center’s Pain Trial and Physical Activity (PA) Trials. In collaboration with BuildClinical, a vendor specializing in targeted online campaigns to recruit participants for clinical research studies, we have received over 4,000 potentially eligible participants to screen for eligibility for the ARCHER trials. We have phone-screened 1,024 potentially eligible participants for the Pain Trial, and 922 potentially eligible participants for the PA Trial. In total, we currently have 406 participants enrolled and randomized: 186 in the Pain Trial and 220 in the PA Trial.  We are thrilled to have reached our goal of 220 randomized participants in the PA trial, and recruitment for the PA trial has officially concluded. Across both trials, randomized participants have consented, completed the baseline interview, and completed 15 days of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data collection. In the PA Trial, participants have also completed 15 days of Fitbit wear. In addition to collecting baseline data, we have been actively collecting 3-month and 6-month follow-up data: 154 participants in the Pain Trial have completed their 3-month interview and 3-month EMA surveys, and 164 participants in the PA Trial have completed their 3-month interview and 3-month EMA surveys. In the Pain Trial, 129 participants have completed their 6-month interview, of which 117 also completed the at-home blood draw which is shipped to a lab and analyzed for Phosphatidylethanol (PEth), an alcohol biomarker. In the PA Trial, 139 participants have completed their 6-month interview, of which 130 completed the at-home blood draw which is shipped to a lab and analyzed for PEth.

The ARCHER team is excited to announce a new publication about our experience identifying and preventing the enrollment of fraudulent research study participants: Lessons Learned Identifying and Controlling Fraudulent Participation in Online Randomized Trials, which was accepted by Journal of Medical Internet Research and published in October 2025.

We invite any interested investigators who wish to use existing Boston ARCH data for secondary analysis to contact ARCHER PI, Dr. Stein, or Kara Magane, Senior Director of Research Operations, for additional information.

See this issue’s main story for updates from META HIV CVD!