Increasing HIV/STI Home Testing Via a Digital Intervention Among Black Women
- Conditions
- HivSexually Transmitted DiseasesEconomic Problems
- Interventions
- Other: Educational ControlBehavioral: Empowered to Test Yourself
- Registration Number
- NCT05390541
- Lead Sponsor
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Brief Summary
The proposed intervention is a web-based intervention guided by theoretical components to increase HIV home testing among Black women at risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in a HIV hotspot in the South. The intervention will promote using the home test, linkage to care, and linkage to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) evaluation. The intervention has the potential to be implemented on a large scale and tailored based on location and population to increase testing, treatment, and PrEP adoption.
- Detailed Description
In Travis County, Texas, deemed a HIV geographic hotspot due to high HIV rates, Black women are 18.4 times more likely to contract HIV compared to women of other races/ethnicities. Black women also have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than other women; many STIs have no symptoms, are undiagnosed, and are untreated. Having an STI triples one's risk for contracting HIV. In Travis County, over 20% of women learned one year after contracting HIV that the the individual is HIV-positive, highlighting barriers to testing. Home HIV/STI testing has promise to increase rates of testing by circumventing barriers and thereby reduce medical costs through early detection and care. Home HIV/STI testing is also a prime opportunity to link Black women at high risk for HIV to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Yet, home testing alone may not overcome all barriers. Pairing home testing with an intervention designed to increase motivation and overcome barriers has the most promise to increase HIV/STI testing rates. The proposed project draws on 3 components, the situated, information-motivation-behavioral (sIMB) model, mental contrasting, and implementation intentions to develop a new, web-based intervention. This intervention is comprised of 5 sessions: 1) using the HIV/STI home testing kit, 2) mailing in the kit, 3) checking results, 4) obtaining treatment, and 5) attending an appointment for PrEP. Each session is structured the same: information regarding the importance of each behavior (i.e., taking the home test, mailing in the test, checking results, linkage to care, and linkage to PrEP), motivation via mental contrasting (identifying positive outcomes and barriers to each session) and methods to overcome the identified barriers (implementation intentions), and behavioral skills to increase self-efficacy. The project will occur in 3 phases that coincide with the aims to develop and culturally tailor the intervention. 1) Conduct formative research to develop the intervention. Four focus groups (n=4-6), with 24 Black women from Travis County will explore the constructs of sIMB, mental contrasting, and implementation intentions to develop the intervention protocol to be field tested in Aim 2. 2) Field test the intervention. The investigators will test the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of the intervention with 6 participants to make any necessary adjustments for Aim 3. 3) Conduct a feasibility pilot of the intervention. The investigators will determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy among 60 Black women in Travis County. Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention or a web-based educational control. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will be feasible, acceptable, and demonstrate a trend toward efficacy for completion of home testing, linkage to care, and linkage to PrEP. Follow-up web-based assessments will be administered 2-, 4-, and 6-months after baseline. The web-based design of the intervention greatly increases the opportunity for implementation on a large scale. The long-term goal is to increase HIV/STI testing among low-income Black women via scalable and sustainable methods to decrease HIV transmission and subsequent disparities.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- Female
- Target Recruitment
- 60
- 15 - 59 years of age
- Identify as a cisgender woman
- Identify as Black/African-American (Black/African American mixed race/ethnicity is included)
- Read/speak/type in English
- Have not tested for HIV/STIs in the past 12 months
- Live in urban or suburban areas in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio, Texas
- Had condom-less sex in the past 6 months
- Have access to a device (i.e., smart phone, tablet, or computer/laptop)
- Have access to the internet
- Reports at least one of the following:
- A sexual partner who is living with HIV
- Does not use or uses condoms inconsistently for vaginal/anal sex
- Injects drugs with a partner who is living with HIV
- Shared drug preparation or injection equipment with others
- Over the age of 59 or younger than 15 years
- Identify as any gender other than a cisgender woman
- Identify as any race/ethnicity other than Black/African-American
- Are unable to fluently speak, read, or type in English
- Had an HIV/STI test within the past 12 months
- Live in rural areas of Texas or urban/suburban areas other than Austin, Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio, Texas
- Use condoms 100% of the time during vaginal/anal sex in the past 6 months
- Do not have access to a device (i.e., smart phone, tablet, or computer/laptop)
- Do not have access to the internet
- Reports that they do not have a sexual partner who is living with HIV, always uses condoms for vaginal/anal sex, does not inject drugs with a partner living with HIV, and does not share drug preparation or injection equipment with others.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Educational Control Educational Control Participants will receive a generic standard of care via a combination of videos, audio, and text/graphics across 5 sessions during 4 weeks. Empowered to Test Yourself Empowered to Test Yourself There will be 5 tailored web based sessions of the intervention over 4 weeks, all of which will follow the same format.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Number of HIV positive participants who received HIV treatment 7 days If HIV test is positive, self-report of treatment for HIV; results verified by Kind Clinic.
Number of participants who mailed HIV test 2 days Self-report of mailing at-home HIV test within 2 days; verification from Kind Clinic that test was received.
Number of participants who checked HIV results 7 days Self-report of HIV test results checked within 7 days after Kind Clinic receives the at home HIV test; results verified by Kind Clinic.
Number of participants who used Home HIV Test 4 days Self-report of use of HIV test within 4 days of receiving the test.
Number of HIV negative participants who attended PrEP evaluation 7 days If HIV test is negative, self-report of attending appointment for PrEP evaluation within 7 days after receipt of negative HIV test; appointment attendance verified by Kind Clinic.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Number of participants who used home STI test 4 days Self-report of use of STI test within 4 days of receiving STI home test.
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) score Post intervention up to 1 week Scale is Completely disagree (1) to Completely agree (5). Scores average 4 items; higher scores indicate greater feasibility.
Number of Participants Who Received STI treatment Within 7 days of positive HIV test If applicable (if STI test is positive), self-report of treatment for STI(s); results verified by Kind Clinic.
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) score Post intervention up to 1 week Scale is Completely disagree (1) to Completely agree (5). Scores average 4 items; higher scores indicate greater acceptability.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
🇺🇸San Antonio, Texas, United States