Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jul 6, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 26, 2021
Game Plan for PrEP: Usability and user experience testing a web-based intervention to improve adherence and persistence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and reduce heavy drinking in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men
ABSTRACT
Background:
Encouraging consistent use of PrEP is essential for reducing HIV incidence, particularly in at-risk groups like gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM). Although practice guidelines recommend providing adherence counseling to PrEP patients, clinics and providers may not have the resources or expertise to provide it. Internet-facilitated interventions have been shown to improve HIV prevention outcomes, including medication and care adherence. Game Plan is a website we created to help users make a tangible plan for reducing their HIV risk. We designed additional components of Game Plan to address key individual-level barriers to PrEP use.
Objective:
This research tested the usability and user experience (UX) of these components in intended users, heavy drinking GBM on PrEP.
Methods:
In the study 1 (usability), we completed a detailed individual interview in which participants (N = 10) walked through a prototype of the website, “thinking aloud” as they did, and completed a follow-up interview and online survey afterward. Study 2 (UX) involved providing participants with a link to the prototype website to explore on their own and asked them to complete the same follow-up survey afterward.
Results:
Users in both studies gave the website excellent ratings of usability, overall satisfaction, and quality, and most often described the site as “informative, helpful,” and “supportive.” Users also rated the site’s content and feel as respectful of them and their autonomy, empathetic, and that it conveyed confidence in their ability to change. Study 1 interviews highlighted the importance of the website’s aesthetics to their engagement with it, and its credibility to prompting genuine reflection.
Conclusions:
GBM on PrEP generally found a website focused on helping them create a plan to use PrEP consistently to be helpful. Adopting user-centered design methods and attending to the aesthetics of mHealth interventions are important steps toward encouraging engagement and conveying credibility.
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