JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital health interventions (DHIs) can broaden the reach of HIV prevention interventions and overcome barriers (e.g., stigma, access) for young, cisgender men who have sex with men (YMSM). Community based organizations (CBOs) have delivered HIV prevention interventions for decades, but few studies have examined how CBOs may implement DHIs, including how to recruit and retain participants. Keep It Up! (KIU!) is a CDC designated best-evidence DHI that has been found to promote risk reduction behaviors and STI incidence.

Objective:

We sought to assess CBOs' approaches to recruitment and retention, elucidate lessons learned, and provide examples of recruitment and retention for future implementers.

Methods:

Twenty-two CBOs were selected through a request for proposal (RFP) process to implement KIU!. To assess CBO approaches to recruitment and retention, data were extracted from RFP applications and notes from standing monthly calls with CBO staff. Twenty-five staff across CBOs were interviewed mid-implementation. A descriptive thematic analysis of lessons learned in recruiting and retaining participants was performed. CBO logins to the KIU! online application dashboard were tracked across implementation.

Results:

CBOs used four approaches to recruit participants: outreach and community partnership, online recruitment, hook-up and dating apps, and through participant referrals. CBO staff identified a need to change how KIU! is pitched to clients, intake forms, and which staff are involved in recruitment and highlighted greater difficulty with retention than recruitment.

Conclusions:

Despite CBOs having experience implementing other EBIs with YMSM, they did not have a consensus on successful recruitment and retention strategies for this population. This manuscript presents approaches future CBOs may use in their own implementation. Clinical Trial: NCT03896776