Human-Centered Design for Public Health Innovation: Codesigning a Multicomponent Intervention to Support Youth Across the HIV Care Continuum in Mozambique

Abstract

Using human-centered design (HCD), key learnings identified opportunities for intervention to promote viral suppression and improve ART adherence and retention in care among adolescents and young people living with HIV (AYAHIV). Opportunities included fostering a sense of belonging and peer connectedness with other AYAHIV, providing contextually resonant medical knowledge that fits the unique context of adolescence and young adulthood, reducing misconceptions and stigma surrounding HIV, and cultivating a sense of hope for AYAHIV.n Intervention components include a media campaign to reduce HIV stigma and increase medical literacy; a toolkit to help providers communicate and address the unique needs of AYAHIV clients; peer-support groups to improve medical literacy, empower youth, and provide positive role models for people living with HIV; support groups for parents/caregivers; and discreet pill containers to promote adherence outside the home.

HIV cure: an acceptability scientific agenda

“…Although mixed methods will deliver in-depth qualitative understanding of patient choices, DCEs will allow stakeholders to weigh different cure intervention characteristics, make trade-offs and select appropriate options [ 58 , 59 ▪ ]. The HCD borrowed from economics and gaining grounds in healthcare and HIV research is an iterative process that narrows the gap between an intervention being planned and end user preferences [ 60 , 61 ▪▪ , 62 ]. Thus, bringing together scientists working on HIV cure, patients, ethicists, economists and socio-behavioural scientists could yield new ideas that can feed into the design of cure interventions, and early termination of approaches that are likely to be rejected by patients and caregivers.…”

Exploring the multi-level impacts of a youth-led comprehensive sexuality education model in Madagascar using Human-centered Design methods

“…Human-centered Design (HCD) is an approach that aims to engage diverse stakeholders in exploring needs and creating people-focused solutions that consider individual experiences, motivations, beliefs, and desires [ 24 – 27 ]. Praised for its ability to facilitate the development of culturally relevant and practical solutions, HCD also increases the likelihood of community uptake and program sustainability [ 24 , 28 ]. It offers participatory and creative tools to facilitate the design process with users and is flexible and iterative [ 29 ], which allows for the approach to be applied differently depending on the context and key challenges.…”

“…However, HCD is on the rise in public and global health, where it has been used to define community problems, design interventions, evaluate program impacts, increase the usability of health solutions, and more [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. In fact, numerous studies have found that HCD is particularly well-suited to address global health challenges [ 28 , 32 – 35 ]. Teams across several regions and continents have utilized HCD to tackle diverse health-related issues, such as enhancing HIV care, addressing noncommunicable diseases, and combating violence against women [ 28 , 33 , 36 ].…”

“…In fact, numerous studies have found that HCD is particularly well-suited to address global health challenges [ 28 , 32 – 35 ]. Teams across several regions and continents have utilized HCD to tackle diverse health-related issues, such as enhancing HIV care, addressing noncommunicable diseases, and combating violence against women [ 28 , 33 , 36 ]. Studies have involved a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including community members, governmental leaders, policymakers, health experts, and funders [ 24 ].…”

Developing the Speaking Out and Allying Relationships Intervention on Videoconference for HIV-Positive GBMSM in Eastern Cape, South Africa

“…As a multistep, iterative process, HCD gathers perspectives and experiences from key stakeholders and end users for intervention development and adaptation with a particular strength in technology integration (Lyon et al, 2019): a collaborative approach between researchers and users to create a more viable, usable final product that aligns with the preferences of the study populations (Beres et al, 2019; Harte et al, 2017). Although used to adapt and develop multiple mHealth and in-person interventions for HIV prevention and education globally (Mukherjee et al, 2022), HCD is only emerging as a framework in African contexts despite the well-established community-driven HIV response, IT infrastructure, and smartphone usage (Beres et al, 2019). A few studies using HCD have worked with both patients and providers to improve HIV outcomes across African settings.…”