Efficacy of an Online Self-compassion Group Intervention for Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Sexual minority men living with HIV face challenges affecting their quality of life and medication adherence. While self-compassion has shown promise in improving quality of life, targeted interventions for this group remain limited. This pilot study evaluated the efficacy of an online self-compassion group intervention on quality of life and medication adherence among sexual minority men living with HIV. A six-week online intervention, adapted from the Mindful Self-Compassion program, was implemented in a two-arm randomized controlled trial with 28 participants, comparing the intervention to a waitlist control group. The primary outcomes were quality of life and self-compassion, with medication adherence as a secondary outcome. Measures were taken at baseline, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Linear mixed-effects model showed that the intervention significantly improved quality of life and medication adherence at post-intervention. Although self-compassion showed no significant improvement, over-identification, an uncompassionate self-responding component, showed marginal improvement at follow-up. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that a self-compassion intervention may improve quality of life and medication adherence in sexual minority men living with HIV, warranting further research with larger sample sizes and a focus on the underlying mechanisms.