PlusCare: Mobile Platform to Increase Linkage to Care in Adolescents Living With HIV/AIDS
Condition: HIV/AIDS
MeSH terms: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; HIV Infections
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      While major advancements in medical technology over the past decade have significantly
      improved the life expectancy of persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
      HIV-positive youth today face new barriers to the treatment of HIV as a chronic, manageable
      illness. The mobile system proposed will help improve linkage to care through mobile
      technology support for the case management of youth living with HIV. Results of this project
      will determine the impact of this system on case management processes and outcomes and have
      implications for the care of youth living with other chronic, complex illnesses.
    

Detailed description: 
      With the advancement of medical treatments, which has contributed to the overall decrease in
      opportunistic infections and deaths related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in youth,
      there is a need to ensure that youth living with HIV (YLH) are linked to and engaged in care
      to successfully achieve viral suppression. While an increasing number of mobile health
      (mHealth) technologies have been designed to address HIV prevention and care, a critical gap
      in innovation remains in tools designed to address the specific needs of YLH. In a Phase I
      project, investigators demonstrated the acceptability and feasibility of a user-centered
      prototype design of PlusCare, an mHealth application that can be used by YLH and their case
      managers (CMs) to support HIV care. Results of Phase I suggest that PlusCare could facilitate
      multi-disciplinary, team-based case management of YLH by supporting the sharing and signing
      of documents remotely, automation of adherence reminders, sharing of lab results, alerts CMs
      about program requirements related to age and developmental milestones, streamlining of
      communication between multiple members of a patient's case management team and the patient,
      and offering accessibility to data from multiple modalities. In this Phase II project,
      investigators will conduct a mixed methods, non-randomized pre-post study with CMs (N=20) and
      YLH patients (N=70) to examine the use of PlusCare on case management processes and health
      outcomes (i.e., HIV viral load, medical visit frequency and gaps) in 3 different case
      management programs at 2 different clinical study site settings. An initial cost analysis
      will be performed to assess potential cost effectiveness. Results of these Phase I and II
      projects will inform the development of a product that can be used in multiple case
      management settings and prepare PlusCare for future commercialization. Results have
      implications for future development of PlusCare to serve the broader HIV population (YLH aged
      25-34 years old and at-risk individuals) as well as youth living with other chronic health
      conditions.
    

Intervention name(s): PlusCare
Intervention type(s): Device
Intervention description(s): PlusCare is a mobile application designed to be used by youth and young adults with HIV and case managers.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Intervention model description: Pre-post quasi-experimental design
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research
Keywords: youth; young adults; digital health; mobile application; case management