Department of General and Specialized Nursing, Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Feb 16;9(2):e23912. doi: 10.2196/23912.
BACKGROUND: Globally, the number of HIV cases continue to increase, despite the development of multiple prevention strategies. New cases of HIV have been reported disproportionately more in men who have sex with men and other vulnerable populations. Issues such as internalized and structural homophobia prevent these men from accessing prevention strategies such as postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are known to be one of the newest and preferred options to enhance PEP knowledge and access. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the mobile apps addressing PEP for HIV infections. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive exploratory study in 3 sequential phases: systematic literature review, patent analysis, and systematic search of app stores. For the systematic review, we followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines adapted for an integrative review in the databases of PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Science Direct, Eric, Treasure, and CINAHL. The patent analysis was performed by exploring the databases of the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the European Patent Office. For the systematic search, we analyzed mHealth apps related to HIV in 2 major app libraries, that is, Google Play Store and App Store. The apps were evaluated by name, characteristics, functions, and availability in iPhone operating system/Android phones. RESULTS: We analyzed 22 studies, of which 2 were selected for the final stage. Both studies present the use of apps as mHealth strategies aimed at improving the sexual health of men who have sex with men, and they were classified as decision support systems. The search in the patent databases showed only 1 result, which was not related to the topic since it was a drug intervention. In the app libraries, 25 apps were found and analyzed, with 15 (60%) apps available for Android systems but only 3 (12%) addressing PEP. In general, the apps inform about HIV and HIV prevention and treatment, with the focus users being health care providers, people with HIV, or the general population, but they have only limited features available, that is, mainly text, images, and videos. The 3 apps exclusively focusing on PEP were created by researchers from Brazilian universities. CONCLUSIONS: Our review found no connection between the scientific studies, registered patents, and the available apps related to PEP; this finding indicates that these available apps do not have a theoretical or a methodological background in their creation. Thus, since the scientific knowledge on HIV is not translated into technological products, preventing the emergence of new infections, especially in the more vulnerable groups, is difficult. In the future, researchers and the community must work in synergy to create more mHealth tools aimed at PEP.
背景:尽管已经制定了多种预防策略,但全球艾滋病毒感染病例仍在不断增加。新报告的艾滋病毒感染病例主要发生在男男性行为者和其他弱势群体中。内化和结构性恐同问题等问题使这些男性无法获得暴露后预防 (PEP) 等预防策略。移动健康 (mHealth) 干预措施是增强 PEP 知识和获取途径的最新和首选方法之一。
目的:本研究旨在确定和分析针对艾滋病毒感染的 PEP 移动应用程序。
方法:我们分三个连续阶段进行了描述性探索性研究:系统文献综述、专利分析和应用商店的系统搜索。对于系统综述,我们遵循了为系统综述和荟萃分析指南制定的报告要求,该指南适用于在 PubMed、Web of Knowledge、Scopus、Cochrane、Embase、Science Direct、Eric、Treasure 和 CINAHL 数据库中的综合审查。专利分析是通过探索巴西国家工业产权研究所、美国专利商标局和欧洲专利局的数据库来进行的。对于系统搜索,我们分析了 2 个主要应用程序库(Google Play 商店和 App Store)中与 HIV 相关的 mHealth 应用程序。应用程序根据名称、特征、功能和 iPhone 操作系统/Android 手机的可用性进行评估。
结果:我们分析了 22 项研究,其中 2 项研究进入了最后阶段。这两项研究都将应用程序作为 mHealth 策略用于改善男男性行为者的性健康,并将其归类为决策支持系统。专利数据库的搜索仅显示了 1 个结果,由于它是一种药物干预,因此与主题无关。在应用程序库中,发现并分析了 25 个应用程序,其中 15 个(60%)可用于 Android 系统,但只有 3 个(12%)涉及 PEP。总体而言,这些应用程序提供了有关 HIV 和 HIV 预防和治疗的信息,重点用户是医疗保健提供者、HIV 感染者或普通人群,但它们提供的功能有限,即主要是文本、图像和视频。专门针对 PEP 的 3 个应用程序是由巴西大学的研究人员创建的。
结论:我们的综述发现,科学研究、已注册的专利和与 PEP 相关的现有应用程序之间没有联系;这一发现表明,这些现有应用程序在创建时没有理论或方法学背景。因此,由于 HIV 相关的科学知识没有转化为技术产品,因此难以预防新的感染,尤其是在更脆弱的群体中。未来,研究人员和社区必须协同工作,创建更多针对 PEP 的 mHealth 工具。
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