Table 2.

Variable Importance in the Random Forest Results.

	% MSE increase
Variable	Counter-narratives	Trust in provider	Trust in healthcare system	Total trust
Depressive symptoms	9.24	4.74	12.89	15.31
Age	10.95	6.56	3.32	7.46
PTSD	−0.97	5.01	10.07	6.51
Running out of money for necessities	1.68	3.31	4.37	4.52
Years since HIV diagnosis	2.66	5.28	1.49	2.11
Gender identity	0.34	0.14	−0.93	1.36
Incarceration history	−0.38	3.11	0.20	1.20
Sexual orientation	1.32	1.26	7.13	1.06
Non-Hispanic black	0.28	−1.17	−0.71	0.92
Homelessness history	0.23	−0.52	−0.83	0.85
Education	−0.91	−1.03	0.08	0.12
Risk category tobacco	6.72	−0.45	2.95	0.09
Highest risk category other substances	−1.65	1.65	1.69	−0.42
Currently working	−1.18	−0.37	0.68	−1.78
Risk category alcohol	−1.90	−2.28	−0.75	−2.67
Risk category cannabis	−1.30	−2.86	−0.95	−2.79

	Number of nodes
Variable	Counter-narratives	Trust in provider	Trust in healthcare system	Total trust
Age	1,347	1,278	1,158	1,312
Depressive symptoms	1,240	1,148	1,277	1,254
Years since HIV diagnosis	1,039	1,111	1,003	1,037
Running out of money for necessities	924	898	918	936
Sexual orientation	767	816	801	737
Homeless history	625	518	607	592
Incarceration history	382	663	556	536
Education	492	423	479	440
Highest risk category other substances	362	467	418	411
Risk category tobacco	498	388	450	397
Risk category cannabis	375	495	343	387
Gender identity	418	356	302	380
PTSD	204	271	408	319
Risk category alcohol	421	350	356	303
Non-Hispanic black	224	188	239	245
Currently working	182	130	185	214

Note. For both indices, a higher value indicates higher relative importance in predicting the medical trust variable.