Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jan 9, 2026
Date Accepted: May 19, 2026
Date Submitted to PubMed: May 19, 2026
A Web-based Virtual Environment Behavioral Intervention as CVD and Metabolic Disease Prevention Education in Persons with HIV: Evaluation of the LEARN RCT
ABSTRACT
Background:
Persons with HIV have an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases compared to HIV serostatus-negative individuals.
Objective:
We conducted a pilot wait-list control randomized trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual environment for CVD and metabolic disease prevention education in men living with HIV.
Methods:
In phase one, we conducted interviews and virtual environment beta testing with (n=25) individuals. In phase two, reported here, we conducted a wait-list control trial with permuted block randomization. Participants were allocated to the virtual environment intervention (n = 40) or a wait-list control arm (n = 38). The primary outcomes were feasibility (defined by recruitment and retention metrics) and acceptability (defined by levels of engagement) with virtual environment. We also examined preliminary effect sizes across several cardiovascular health-related indicators.
Results:
The LEARN Study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual environment designed for cardiovascular and metabolic disease prevention education in persons with HIV. The high engagement rates with specific educational content and strong retention highlight the promise of this innovative approach. Preliminary effect sizes suggested positive trends in cardiovascular health indicators and mental well-being, indicating further potential benefits of the intervention. These findings support progression to a fully powered randomized controlled trial. Subsequent funding has been awarded, based on this work, to expand the research in LEARN2. We will integrate lessons learned and focus on HIV- related conditions with shared risk factors to enhance the study’s impact. By addressing HIV conditions with interrelated risk factors, we aim to provide a more comprehensive intervention to improve the overall health and well-being of individuals living with HIV.
Conclusions:
The LEARN Study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual environment designed for cardiovascular and metabolic disease prevention education in persons with HIV. The high engagement rates with specific educational content and strong retention highlight the promise of this innovative approach. Preliminary effect sizes suggested positive trends in cardiovascular health indicators and mental well-being, indicating further potential benefits of the intervention. These findings have significant implications for developing technology-driven interventions to improve health outcomes in groups underrepresented in research. Subsequent funding has been awarded, based on this work, to expand the research. We will integrate lessons learned and focus on HIV- related conditions with shared risk factors to enhance the study’s impact. By addressing HIV conditions with interrelated risk factors, we aim to provide a more comprehensive intervention to improve the overall health and well-being of individuals living with HIV. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05242952
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.