Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Dec 31, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 26, 2021
WYZ: Results of a pilot intervention of a mobile health application for engagement in care and antiretroviral therapy adherence among youth and young adults living with HIV
ABSTRACT
Background:
Youth are globally recognized as being vulnerable to HIV. Younger age has been correlated with worse health outcomes. Mobile health (mHealth) delivered interventions have the potential to meet youth where they are, using a device they already access.
Objective:
Using pre-defined benchmarks, we sought to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of WYZ, an mHealth application, for improved engagement in care and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among youth and young adults living with HIV (YLWH). WYZ was designed and developed with input from YLWH using a Human-Centered Design approach and based on the Information, Motivation, Behavioral Skills framework to address common barriers to care and ART adherence among YLWH.
Methods:
We recruited YLWH (18–29 years old) in the San Francisco Bay Area to take part in a six-month pilot trial. Their participation included completing a baseline and exit survey and participating in seven phone check-ins about their use of WYZ.
Results:
YLWH (N= 79) reported high levels of feasibility and acceptability with WYZ use. We met pre-defined benchmarks for recruitment, mean log-ins per week, tracking ART adherence, posting chat topics, and app crashes reported. Ease of app download, install, and set up, as well as comfort with security, privacy, and anonymity were highly rated. Additionally, participants reported high satisfaction for a research project that was remotely conducted. Participants used the app for shorter timeframes compared to the pre-defined benchmarks.
Conclusions:
We noted high feasibility and acceptability with WYZ. Further research to examine the efficacy of WYZ will enable YLWH and their providers to make informed decisions when using, recommending, and prescribing it for improved engagement in HIV care and ART adherence. Clinical Trial: NCT03587857
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.