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

NCT ID: NCT06545968

Last Updated: 2025-05-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 105 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-10-25
• Study Completion Date: 2028-01-30

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.

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention arm

These are the participants who will be randomised to receive the intervention at the start of the study.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

A social media based intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

WatsApp-based modules to influence retention in care behaviour

Wait list control arm

These are participants who will not receive the intervention initially, but will move to the intervention arm after 6 months of follow-up

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

A social media based intervention

WatsApp-based modules to influence retention in care behaviour

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Clinic counsellors who are ≥18 years

2. Clinic counsellors who have worked at the HIV clinic for ≥ 1 year

Exclusion Criteria

1) Inability to provide consent

• Minimum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Julian Adong, MMed

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Locations

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Mbarara, , Uganda

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Uganda

Central Contacts

Julian Adong, MMed

Role: CONTACT

jadong@must.ac.ug

+256 755553595

Facility Contacts

Julian Adong, MMed

Role: primary

jadong@must.ac.ug

+256 755553595

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

K43TW012640

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

MUST-2024-06-14

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id