Interest in HIV Prevention Mobile Phone Apps: Focus Group Study With Sexual and Gender Minority Persons Living in the Rural Southern United States (Preprint)

Abstract

UNSTRUCTURED Mobile health (mHealth) interventions, including smartphone apps, have been found to be an effective means of increasing uptake of HIV prevention tools, including HIV/STI testing and PrEP. However, most HIV prevention mHealth apps tested in the United States have been tested among populations that live in areas surrounding urban centers. Due to reduced access to broadband internet and reliable cellular data service, it remains unclear how accessible and effective these interventions will be in rural areas. Additionally, men who have sex with men (MSM) and gender minority populations experience in rural areas experience enhanced stigma compared to their more urban counterparts, and these experiences might affect their willingness and interest in mHealth apps. We conducted online focus groups with MSM and transgender and gender diverse populations in the rural southern United States to assess interest in mHealth HIV prevention apps and the features they would be most interested in using. Overall, participants reported a high degree of interest in mHealth interventions for HIV prevention and made several recommendations for the features of an app-based intervention that would be most useful. These focus group discussions indicate that rural residence is not a major barrier to mHealth HIV prevention intervention implementation.