JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Daily and event-driven pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been well demonstrated to effectively prevent HIV acquisition for men who have sex with men (MSM). More than half of the MSM PrEP users in Taiwan prefer event-driven PrEP. However, event-driven PrEP is a complicated dosing regimen because this kind of dosing regimen requires pre- and post-coital dosing and sex events are hard to anticipate. Although there are a growing number of mobile apps designed to improve access to HIV prevention services and HIV medication adherence, few mobile apps focus on the adherence to PrEP or are designed to accommodate a complicated, event-driven PrEP dosing schedule.

Objective:

The aim of this project is to evaluate the usability and feasibility of a newly developed mobile app (UPrEPU app) to assist MSM PrEP users to self-monitor their adherence to either daily or event-driven PrEP using a user-centered scheme.

Methods:

This research will be conducted in two phases: app development and usability study. In the app development phase, we will first conduct formative research with end users and stakeholders by in-depth interviews; the results will output PrEP users’ and the PrEP navigators’ personas as a material used in the app conceptualization stage. A low-fidelity prototype of the app feature will be formatted by applying a participatory design approach to engage PrEP users, designers, app developers and stakeholders in the design process of the app. Then a high-fidelity prototype of the app for usability study will developed and refined iteratively within the multidisciplinary team and new internal testers. At the usability study phase, we will enroll 70 MSM PrEP users and follow up for four months. The acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of the adherence monitoring will be evaluated.

Results:

Refinement of the UPrEPU app is currently ongoing. The usability study will commence in May 2020.

Conclusions:

UPrEPU app is a one of the first apps designed to help MSM PrEP users to self-manage their PrEP schedule better regardless of dosing modes. With the design thinking approach and adapting to the cultural context in the MSM population in Taiwan, this novel app will have substantial potential to be acceptable and feasible. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04248790.