Laurence Colleen, Wispelwey Erin, Flickinger Tabor E, Grabowski Marika, Waldman Ava Lena, Plews-Ogan Erin, Debolt Claire, Reynolds George, Cohn Wendy, Ingersoll Karen, Dillingham Rebecca
Department of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, United States.
Health Decision Technologies, Oakland, CA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2019 Mar 20;3(1):e11578. doi: 10.2196/11578.
Linkage to and retention in HIV care are challenging, especially in the Southeastern United States. The rise in mobile phone app use and the potential for an app to deliver just in time messaging provides a new opportunity to improve linkage and retention among people living with HIV (PLWH).
This study aimed to develop an app to engage, link, and retain people in care. We evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and impact of the app among users.
App development was informed by principles of chronic disease self-management and formative interviews with PLWH. Once developed, the app was distributed among participants, and usability feedback was incorporated in subsequent iterations. We interviewed app users after 3 weeks to identify usability issues, need for training on the phone or app, and to assess acceptability. We tracked and analyzed usage of app features for the cohort over 2 years.
A total of 77 participants used the app during the pilot study. The query response rate for the first 2 years was 47.7%. Query response declined at a rate of 0.67% per month. The community message board was the most popular feature, and 77.9% (60/77) of users posted on the board at least once during the 2 years.
The PositiveLinks app was feasible and acceptable among nonurban PLWH. High participation on the community message board suggests that social support from peers is important for people recently diagnosed with or returning to care for HIV.
与艾滋病护理的联系及维持护理关系具有挑战性，在美国东南部地区尤为如此。手机应用程序使用的增加以及应用程序提供即时消息的潜力为改善艾滋病毒感染者（PLWH）的联系和维持护理关系提供了新机会。
本研究旨在开发一款应用程序，以促使人们参与护理、建立联系并维持护理关系。我们评估了该应用程序在用户中的可接受性、可行性和影响。
应用程序的开发参考了慢性病自我管理原则以及对艾滋病毒感染者进行的形成性访谈。开发完成后，该应用程序分发给参与者，并在后续迭代中纳入可用性反馈。我们在3周后对应用程序用户进行了访谈，以确定可用性问题、对电话或应用程序培训的需求，并评估可接受性。我们对该队列在2年多时间里应用程序功能的使用情况进行了跟踪和分析。
在试点研究期间，共有77名参与者使用了该应用程序。前两年的查询回复率为47.7%。查询回复率每月下降0.67%。社区留言板是最受欢迎的功能，77.9%（60/77）的用户在两年内至少在留言板上发布过一次信息。
PositiveLinks应用程序在非城市艾滋病毒感染者中是可行且可接受的。社区留言板上的高参与度表明，同伴的社会支持对最近被诊断出感染艾滋病毒或重新接受艾滋病毒护理的人很重要。
