A Social Media Intervention to Improve Retention in Care for Adolescents and Young Adults With HIV in Uganda

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Adolescent Behavior
• Interventions: Behavioral: A social media based intervention

• Registration Number: NCT06545968
• Lead Sponsor: Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Brief Summary

Adolescents and young adults with HIV (AYWH) aged 15- 24 years are the fastest-growing population of people living with HIV worldwide. AYWH have worse outcomes along the HIV continuum of care than adults with HIV; HIV/AIDS is the second leading cause of mortality and the fourth leading cause of disability among AYWH worldwide. This study will develop a youth-friendly, mobile health (mHealth) intervention to improve retention in care that has the potential to improve AIDS-related mortality and morbidity among AYWH and decrease onward new transmission, thus contributing towards ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Detailed Description

Background: Of the adolescents and young adults with HIV (AYWH) who initiate in care, only about 50% remain in care at 12 months; in 2020, AYWH recorded a 50% increase in AIDS-related mortality. These poor clinical outcomes among AYWH are multi-factorial and largely influenced by their neurodevelopmental stage and differ by route of infection. Current interventions to retain AYWH in care are ineffective and do not address the neurodevelopmental issues of AYWH. Social media-based mHealth interventions may offer flexible and attractive features to AYWH to help overcome these barriers. Candidate: The goal of the proposed K43 Emerging Global Leader Award is to support The investigator's research training to attain independence as a clinician-scientist focused on improving treatment and care for AYWH in low resourced settings. The investigator is currently a research fellow at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda. The proposed study will enable training in three areas: 1) Qualitative research skills, including design, data collection, analysis and interpretation; 2) Behavioural science skills to better understand influences of adolescent behaviour and implications for mHealth-based intervention development and deployment; 3) Skills in statistical methods for clinical trials to conduct clinical trials and longitudinal data analysis. This application builds on The investigator's current clinical experience and background in epidemiology, as well as ongoing formative work in mHealth intervention development and a highly supportive, multidisciplinary team of mentors. Research: The research goals of this proposal are to develop and test a psychosocial social media-based mHealth intervention to improve retention in care of AYWH attain viral suppression, therefore decreasing AIDS-related mortality and preventing onward HIV transmission. The investigator will identify the HIV knowledge gaps, experiences, and challenges among AYWH who are new or re-engaging in HIV care, characterizing these factors by route of infection (i.e., perinatal vs non-perinatal) among AYWH in resource limited populations.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2024-07-25
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-08-07
• Study First Posted: 2024-08-09
• Study Start: 2024-10-25
• Status Verified: 2025-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-05-14
• Last Update Posted: 2025-05-18
• Primary Completion: 2027-07-31
• Study Completion: 2028-01-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 105

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention arm	A social media based intervention	These are the participants who will be randomised to receive the intervention at the start of the study.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The primary intervention outcome will be the acceptability, feasibility of the intervention.	12 months	Acceptability will be measured using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) and will be considered acceptable if ≥70% (35/50) of intervention participants rate all 4 items on the AIM (a 5-point Likert scale) as "agree" or higher.; The intervention will be considered feasible if ≥70% (35/50) of intervention participants rate all 4 items on the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), (a 5-point Likert scale) as "agree" or higher.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Retention	12 months	The secondary outcome of the intervention will be retention in care, which will be assessed at the end of 12 months. This will be defined as the proportion of participants active in care (i.e have not missed a scheduled appointment in the last 12 months) The investigators will compare the proportion of participants actively engaged in care in the immediate intervention and the deferred intervention arm.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Mbarara University of Science and Technology; 🇺🇬 Mbarara, Uganda