Culturally Congruent HIV Risk Reduction App for Young Women, an Acceptability & Pilot Evaluation
Condition: HIV; STDs
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Smartphone applications and mobile technologies offer users the potential to access critical
      information (e.g., proper condom use, directions to testing sites, and other sexual and
      reproductive health services) when it is needed most. Relevant findings will identify areas
      where existing interventions may be leveraged and adapted to work among young women of color
      in an urban setting and their networks. As SRH smartphone apps continue to proliferate, this
      study will expand researchers', developers', and health educators' limited knowledge about
      the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a sexual health educational app
      tailored with and for young Black and Latino women, aged 18-25 in NYC, including whether this
      app acts as a gateway to sexual health educators, clinical and other service providers. If
      proven effective, findings from this study will identify areas where existing interventions
      may be leveraged and adapted to work among a YBLW and their networks, and potentially adapted
      for other high needs communities.
    

Detailed description: 
      New HIV, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea infections are highest among young Black women and Latinas
      aged 13 to 29 years old compared to White women, which negatively impacts other sexual and
      reproductive health outcomes. Given that young women have a substantial need for SRH services
      and a high smartphone ownership, unique opportunities to utilize mobile apps(applications) to
      decrease HIV risk behaviors may exist.

      A tailored, culturally congruent, smartphone app co-developed with and for young Black and
      Latino women (18 to 25 years old) not yet publicly available offers a unique opportunity to
      conduct a feasibility, acceptability, and pilot RCT. Using this app, this pilot that will: a)
      assess feasibility of the sampling, consent, recruitment and retention techniques; b) collect
      acceptability and usability data and cultural congruence on the app; a and c) collect pilot
      data to test differences between intervention and control groups on the preliminary estimates
      of app effectiveness to inform a potential larger-scale study. The investigators propose YBLW
      between 18 and 25 years old in NYC will use a mobile-based health education app to access SRH
      education information. Additionally, those who use the tailored SRH app will have more
      self-reported connection to SRH services, better knowledge of SRH education domains, and how
      to link to clinical services (e.g., PREP, PEP, EC, birth control, HIV, STD, and pregnancy
      testing), compared to the control group. Analysis for the first aim will employ process
      measures and the second and third aims are mixed-methods aims.

      Analysis will compare differences between the 2-arms and indiscernible differences and
      culturally tailored usability will be explored via focus groups and web analytics.
    

Intervention name(s): Understanding Reproductive Health for Ladeez (GURHL) Code
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Understanding Reproductive Health for Ladeez (GURHL) Code is an acceptability study to test a web-based application designed with and for young women of color 18 to 25 years old.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: HIV; STDs; web-based app; women