Globally, there are more than 37.7 million people living with HIV (PLHIV). Retention in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care is a common and modifiable determinant of increased adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), better health outcomes, and a better quality of life.There is no consensus in the literature on measures of retention in HIV care. This makes it very difficult to compare different studies and jurisdictions. This thesis review summarizes the definitions of retention used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and identifies the various components used to measure retention, which can be used as a reference for researchers to identify the gaps in the current definitions for HIV retention measures and identify preferred measures with the goal of reaching a standard consensus definition of retention in HIV care.

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Social interactions were limited due to COVID-19 restrictions resulting in a high prevalence of loneliness and social isolation. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate the impact of engaging in music on the experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included nine articles with a total of 16,176 participants, all of which reported upon the impact of musical engagement in the form of music listening or music-related activities on loneliness. The average age of participants was 43 ± 15 years, and 37% were male. Eight studies (88.9%) reported that music engagement reduced loneliness. This systematic review demonstrates that music may have had a beneficial impact on loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that the use of music is an accessible method to cope with feelings of loneliness and improve overall wellbeing during times of social isolation.

Introduction Engagement in the HIV care cascade is required for people living with HIV (PLWH) to achieve an undetectable viral load. However, varying definitions of engagement exist, contributing to heterogeneity in research regarding how many individuals are actively participating and benefitting from care. A standardized definition is needed to enhance comparability and pooling of data from engagement studies. Objectives The objective of this paper was to describe the various definitions for engagement used in HIV clinical trials. Methods Articles were retrieved from CASCADE, a database of 298 clinical trials conducted to improve the HIV care cascade ( https://hivcarecascade.com/ ), curated by income level, vulnerable population, who delivered the intervention, the setting in which it was delivered, the intervention type, and the level of pragmatism of the intervention. Studies with engagement listed as an outcome were selected from this database. Results 13 studies were eligible, of which five did not provide an explicit definition for engagement. The remaining studies used one or more of the following: appointment adherence (n=6), laboratory testing (n=2), adherence to antiretroviral therapy (n=2), time specification (n=5), intervention adherence (n=5), and quality of interaction (n=1). Conclusion This paper highlights the existing diversity in definitions for engagement in the HIV care cascade and categorize these definitions into appointment adherence, laboratory testing, adherence to antiretroviral therapy, time specification, intervention adherence, and quality of interaction. We recommend consensus on how to describe and measure engagement.