Increasing HIV/STI Home Testing Via a Digital Intervention Among Black Women

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.

Conditions

• Hiv
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Economic Problems

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Empowered to Test Yourself

There will be 5 sessions of the intervention, all of which will follow the same format. Participants will be sent push notifications for each session. Each session will begin with using relevant constructs from sIMB (i.e., information and behavioral skills). Next, participants will choose positive outcomes resulting from the behavior, barriers to performing the behavior (mental contrasting), select situational cues and action plans to overcome selected barriers (implementation intentions), and practice typing in implementation intentions and positive outcomes from memory (memory practice). To ensure participants retain the implementation intentions, the investigators will use memory practice. Participants will be asked to self-code if the participant is correct or incorrect. Lastly, participants will learn behavioral skills to engage in each of the 5 actions to increase self-efficacy.

OTHER

Educational Control

Participants will receive the HIV/STI home testing kit, instructions to mail in the kit, notification when results are ready to check online, treatment from a provider at Kind Clinic for positive results, and referral to Kind Clinic for PrEP. Each session and assessment will occur every 3 days. Session 1: Basic information about STIs. Session 2: HIV and stigma, basic information about HIV, and HIV transmission facts and myths. Session 3: Four stories about different people who are HIV-positive, how HIV was contracted, and one story about a woman who contracted herpes and how to all cope and live healthy lives. Session 4: How to disclose positive STI status. Session 5: Basic information about PrEP, and information on how to correctly use a male condom, female condom, and dental dam.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Liesl A Nydegger, PhD · Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

59 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-02

Primary Completion

2025-06-30

Completion

2025-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations