Brandon A Knettel

Biographic Data

ID630855
NAMEBrandon A Knettel
GIVEN NAMESBrandon A
FAMILY NAMEKnettel
SIGNATUREKNETTEL B A
AFFILIATIONSDuke University
ORCID0000-0003-2986-1579
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS33
TOTAL CITATIONS0
AUTHOR COUNT33
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2016
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX0

  • The growing and urgent need for interventions to mitigate cancer-related stigma in sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessHuda Fatima Haque, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLECambridge Prisms Global Mental…2026

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  • The role of faith in suicide prevention among people living with HIV

    Open AccessRyan A Parker, Jackline Rwakilomba et al.ARTICLEMental Health Religion & Culture2026

    Religious leaders are important actors on the pathway to care for many people experiencing mental distress, particularly in low-resource settings. There is a need for collaboration with religious leaders in suicide risk recognition and interventions. From May-June, 2024, we conducted qualitative interviews with 14 religious leaders and eight mental health workers in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to explore the potential to integrate aspects of faith into…

  • From research to practice

    Paul Ngangula, Louise Joel et al.ARTICLEAIDS Care2026

    Despite the life-saving potential of mental health interventions, their scalability and integration within healthcare systems present significant challenges, particularly in low-resource global settings. This study investigated scaling IDEAS for Hope, a telehealth counseling intervention designed to reduce suicide risk and improve HIV care engagement among people living with HIV in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and identified actionable implementation s…

  • Examining stigma associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer screening and treatment in Africa

    Open AccessDina K Abouelella, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLECambridge Prisms Global Mental…2026

    Despite the effectiveness of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening for prevention, the uptake of these methods remains poor in African settings.Along with practical obstacles such as limited access and financial constraints, stigma continues to be a barrier to the prevention and care of cervical cancer across the continent.Given the limited literature available to guide stigma-reduction interventions, we explored the research landscape of…

  • Development of a brief telehealth-delivered counseling intervention to reduce suicide risk and improve HIV care engagement in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

    Open AccessBrandon A Knettel, Ismail Amiri et al.ARTICLEEvaluation and Program Planning2025

  • A scoping review of qualitative studies examining the factors influencing hypertension treatment adherence in East Africa

    Open AccessMirlene Perry, Julia Slack et al.ARTICLEJournal of Biosocial Science2025

    Hypertension (HTN) is the primary cause of preventable cardiovascular-related deaths globally, representing the most important modifiable risk factor for preventing such deaths. Nearly 700 million of the 1.3 billion adults with HTN worldwide remain untreated, most of whom live in low-and middle-income countries, including East Africa. Barriers to the diagnosis of HTN also impact treatment adherence after diagnosis and the initiation of treatment.…

  • “A man never cries”

    Open AccessAlena Pauley, Mia Buono et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Globally, gender differences are well-documented in alcohol use behaviors and MDD, yet these remain understudied in Moshi, Tanzania. Understanding gender-specific nuances of these conditions is crucial for developing effective and culturally appropriate mental health treatments. This study aims to investigate gender differences in MDD, alcohol use, and other aspects of mental well-being among patients at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC…

  • The management of psychiatric emergencies in Africa

    Open AccessShankar Chakkera, Julia Sieg et al.ARTICLECambridge Prisms Global Mental…2025

    More than 116 million people in Africa live with mental health conditions. However, many African countries lack the infrastructure, training and workforce to effectively manage psychiatric emergencies. This has led to overuse of controversial practices such as physical and chemical restraint and involuntary seclusion, often violating patient rights. We conducted a scoping review of restraint and seclusion practices and their impacts in African cl…

  • Advancing Health Infrastructure to Address Mental Health Disorders among People Living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessFaraan O Rahim, Kavya Kannan et al.ARTICLEEthnicity & Disease2025

    People living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa bear a disproportionate burden of mental and behavioral health disorders compared with the general population. Several health care systems throughout the region have made efforts to integrate HIV and mental health care, but these systems have met challenges in long-term sustainability due to limited care continuity and insufficient attention to social determinants of health. In this commentary, we prop…

  • Challenges and opportunities for improving mental health care and preventing suicide among people living with HIV

    Open AccessElizabeth T Knippler, Alyssa J Martinez et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2024

    People living with HIV (PLWH) experience unique stressors that contribute to emotional distress, and PLWH are more than twice as likely to die by suicide when compared to the general population. In countries like Tanzania, there is a relatively high burden of HIV but few resources to support mental health needs. To gain a better understanding of mental health challenges experienced by PLWH in northern Tanzania and identify opportunities for inter…

  • “Let him die. He caused it”

    Open AccessJudith M Mwobobia, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2024

    Cancer stigma presents a critical barrier to care seeking, contributing to delayed presentation and poor cancer outcomes worldwide. The burden of cancer in Tanzania is on the rise, with cancer being the third-leading cause of death in the country. Despite rising incidence and poor outcomes of cancer, cancer-related stigma interventions have received low prioritization. There is a need for sound research that focuses on understanding attitudes dri…

  • Patient perspectives on the helpfulness of a community health worker program for HIV care engagement in Tanzania

    Brandon A Knettel, Amnazo Muhirwa et al.ARTICLEAIDS Care2023

    Task-shifting is a valuable approach for redistributing clinical tasks to nonprofessional health workers and relieving human resource shortages. The Community-Based HIV Services (CBHS) program is a national cohort of volunteer community health workers (CHWs) who support HIV care engagement at clinics in Tanzania. We recruited 23 patients initiating HIV care at two clinics to understand their experiences with the CBHS program. Participants complet…

  • Validation of a culturally sensitive, Swahili-translated instrument to assess suicide risk among adults living with HIV in Tanzania

    Open AccessLinda Minja, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLECambridge Prisms Global Mental…2023

    In Tanzania, there are high rates of suicidal thoughts and behavior among people living with HIV (PLWH), yet few instruments exist for effective screening and referral. To address this gap, we developed and validated Swahili translations of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) Screen Version and two accompanying scales assessing self-efficacy to avoid suicidal action and reasons for living. We administered a structured survey to 80…

  • Predictors of Self-repackaging of Antiretroviral Therapy in Northern Tanzania

    Open AccessSeleman Khamis Semvua, Christine Yaeree Kim et al.ARTICLEAmerican Journal of Health Behavior2022

    Objectives: In this study, we explored determinants of "researcher-observed" patient-initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) repackaging practices among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Northern Tanzania. Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design to describe the prevalence of ART self- repackaging; we conducted face-to-face surveys to determine factors associated with ART self- repackaging practices. Data collection sites included the Kilimanj…

  • Task shifting for maternal and neonatal care in low-resource settings

    Mallory Michalak, Shay E Slifko et al.ARTICLEHealth Care For Women International2022

    In an effort to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, a rural health system in Papua New Guinea implemented a two-week midwifery training program for 47 nurses and community health workers. We evaluated this program by administering pre- and post-training knowledge tests, focus group discussions, a clinical vignette task, and key informant interviews. Participants improved significantly in their midwifery knowledge and demonstrated effective ca…

  • Attitudes Toward Pregnancy Among Women Enrolled in Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) Services in Moshi, Tanzania

    Open AccessElizabeth T Knippler, Rimel N Mwamba et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2021

  • HIV Stigmatizing Attitudes Among Men Accompanying Their Partners to Antenatal Care in Tanzania

    Open AccessGodfrey Kisigo, Godfrey A Kisigo et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2021

  • The development of Maisha, a video-assisted counseling intervention to address HIV stigma at entry into antenatal care in Tanzania

    Open AccessMelissa H Watts, Melissa H Watt et al.ARTICLEEvaluation and Program Planning2020

  • Improving Access to Cancer Care in the HIV Population

    Open AccessKelsey L Corrigan, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLEHealth Equity2020

    Purpose: People living with HIV are less likely to receive cancer treatment and have worse cancer-specific survival, yet underlying drivers of this disparity have minimally been explored. We investigated cancer care barriers from the perspective of patients living with HIV and cancer (PLWHC) to inform future interventions, reduce disparities, and improve outcomes. Methods: We conducted in-depth semistructured interviews with 27 PLWHC. The intervi…

  • She Just Told Me Not To Cry”

    Open AccessMartha Oshosen, Brandon A Knettel et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2020

  • The Disclosure Dilemma

    Open AccessRimel N Mwamba, Saumya S Sao et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2020

  • Pilot Outcomes of Maisha

    Open AccessMelissa H Watts, Linda Minja et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2020

  • Women’s perspectives on ImpACT

    Brandon A Knettel, Marta Mulawa et al.ARTICLEAIDS Care2019

    HIV-infected women who have experienced sexual violence face unique challenges in their HIV care engagement and adherence to antiretroviral medications (ARVs). Improving AIDS Care after Trauma (ImpACT) is a brief counseling intervention aimed at reducing the negative impact of sexual trauma and HIV, building coping skills, and improving long-term HIV care engagement. We conducted a randomized controlled pilot trial of ImpACT with 64 women initiat…

  • Predictors of postpartum HIV care engagement for women enrolled in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs in Tanzania

    Melissa H Watts, Melissa H Watt et al.ARTICLEAIDS Care2019

    Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) is a foundational component of a comprehensive HIV treatment program. In addition to preventing vertical transmission to children, PMTCT is an important catch-point for universal test-and-treat strategies that can reduce community viral load and slow the epidemic. However, systematic reviews suggest that care engagement in PMTCT programs is sub-optimal. This study enrolled a cohort of 200 …

  • Attitudes Toward Long-Term Use of Antiretroviral Therapy Among HIV-Infected Pregnant Women in Moshi, Tanzania

    Open AccessLinda Minja, Cody Cichowitz et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2019