Text-Messaging, Online Peer Support Group, and Coaching Strategies to Optimize the HIV Prevention Continuum for Youth: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Swendeman, Dallas; Arnold, Elizabeth Mayfield; Harris, Danielle; Fournier, Jasmine; Comulada, W. Scott; Reback, Cathy J.; Koussa, Maryann; Ocasio, Manuel A.; Lee, Sung–Jae; Kozina, Leslie; Fernández, María Isabel Ruiz; Rotheram, Mary Jane

doi:10.2196/11165

Cited by 38 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 99 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Looking forward, interest in the use of digital health interventions to help meet the needs of YLHIV is growing. We identified published protocols of current studies examining interventions targeting youths; however, all 3 are being conducted in the United States [ 63 - 65 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Social Media–Based Support Group for Youth Living With HIV in Nigeria (SMART Connections): Randomized Controlled Trial

Dulli¹,

Ridgeway²,

Packer³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Youth living with HIV (YLHIV) enrolled in HIV treatment experience higher loss to follow-up, suboptimal treatment adherence, and greater HIV-related mortality compared with younger children or adults. Despite poorer health outcomes, few interventions target youth specifically. Expanding access to mobile phone technology, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in particular, has increased interest in using this technology to improve health outcomes. mHealth interventions may present innovative opportunities to improve adherence and retention among YLHIV in LMICs. Objective This study aimed to test the effectiveness of a structured support group intervention, Social Media to promote Adherence and Retention in Treatment (SMART) Connections, delivered through a social media platform, on HIV treatment retention among YLHIV aged 15 to 24 years and on secondary outcomes of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, HIV knowledge, and social support. Methods We conducted a parallel, unblinded randomized controlled trial. YLHIV enrolled in HIV treatment for less than 12 months were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive SMART Connections (intervention) or standard of care alone (control). We collected data at baseline and endline through structured interviews and medical record extraction. We also conducted in-depth interviews with subsets of intervention group participants. The primary outcome was retention in HIV treatment. We conducted a time-to-event analysis examining time retained in treatment from study enrollment to the date the participant was no longer classified as active-on-treatment. Results A total of 349 YLHIV enrolled in the study and were randomly allocated to the intervention group (n=177) or control group (n=172). Our primary analysis included data from 324 participants at endline. The probability of being retained in treatment did not differ significantly between the 2 study arms during the study. Retention was high at endline, with 75.7% (112/163) of intervention group participants and 83.4% (126/161) of control group participants active on treatment. HIV-related knowledge was significantly better in the intervention group at endline, but no statistically significant differences were found for ART adherence or social support. Intervention group participants overwhelmingly reported that the intervention was useful, that they enjoyed taking part, and that they would recommend it to other YLHIV. Conclusions Our findings of improved HIV knowledge and high acceptability are encouraging, despite a lack of measurable effect on retention. Retention was greater than anticipated in both groups, likely a result of external efforts that began partway through the study. Qualitative data indicate that the SMART Connections intervention may have contributed to retention, adherence, and social support in ways that were not captured quantitatively. Web-based delivery of support group interventions can permit people to access information and other group members privately, when convenient, and without travel. Such digital health interventions may help fill critical gaps in services available for YLHIV. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03516318; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03516318

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Social Media–Based Support Group for Youth Living With HIV in Nigeria (SMART Connections): Randomized Controlled Trial

Dulli¹,

Ridgeway²,

Packer³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One of them is the implementation of a peer support intervention program which is able to reduce the risk of postnatal depression (23). The use of peer group-based text massage can use short messages with an online approach where the results are that the use of online peer groups is more efficient (24). The use of social media with a peer group approach can provide emotional support and increase empowerment in diabetics (25).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Group : A New Approach Of Nursing Intervention

Suyanto¹,

Pandin²

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: the development of nursing, especially related to the nursing intervention approach, is running so fast. This can be seen from the use of peer group support in nursing interventions in individual humans. The purpose of this literature is to find the impact of implementing nursing interventions using a peer group support approach.Method: this literature review method uses JBI and Prisma on 120 articles taken from journal databases, namely Scopus, PubMed and Sciendirect.Result: From the articles analyzed, it was found that the application of peer groups can improve individual abilities both in psychological and behavioral aspects.Conclusion: the application of the peer group approach is able to be one of the approaches in the world of nursing in carrying out nursing actions today.

show abstract

“…As 2 of the most popular websites and social media platforms, YouTube and Twitter are potentially capable of influencing countless adolescents [ 2 , 56 , 59 , 66 , 95 , 96 ]. With most of the blue whale challenge-related posts on these platforms found to be potentially harmful to vulnerable populations, our findings suggest that it is urgent to monitor social media posts related to the challenge and similar self-harming challenges.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Self-Harm and Suicide Contagion Effects of the Blue Whale Challenge on YouTube and Twitter: Qualitative Study

Khasawneh¹,

Madathil²,

Dixon³

et al. 2020

JMIR Ment Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Research suggests that direct exposure to suicidal behaviors and acts of self-harm through social media may increase suicidality through imitation and modeling, particularly in more vulnerable populations. One example of a social media phenomenon that demonstrates how self-harming behavior could potentially be propagated is the blue whale challenge. Objective This paper aimed to investigate the way individuals portray the blue whale challenge on social media, with an emphasis on factors that could pose a risk to vulnerable populations. Methods We first used a thematic analysis approach to code 60 publicly posted YouTube videos, 1112 comments on those videos, and 150 Twitter posts that explicitly referenced the blue whale challenge. We then deductively coded the YouTube videos based on the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) safe messaging guidelines as a metric for the contagion risk associated with each video. Results The thematic analysis revealed that social media users post about the blue whale challenge to raise awareness and discourage participation, express sorrow for the participants, criticize the participants, or describe a relevant experience. The deductive coding of the YouTube videos showed that most of the videos violated at least 50% of the SPRC safe and effective messaging guidelines. Conclusions These posts might have the problematic effect of normalizing the blue whale challenge through repeated exposure, modeling, and reinforcement of self-harming and suicidal behaviors, especially among vulnerable populations such as adolescents. More effort is needed to educate social media users and content generators on safe messaging guidelines and factors that encourage versus discourage contagion effects.

show abstract

Text-Messaging, Online Peer Support Group, and Coaching Strategies to Optimize the HIV Prevention Continuum for Youth: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Cited by 38 publications

References 99 publications

A Social Media–Based Support Group for Youth Living With HIV in Nigeria (SMART Connections): Randomized Controlled Trial

A Social Media–Based Support Group for Youth Living With HIV in Nigeria (SMART Connections): Randomized Controlled Trial

Peer Group : A New Approach Of Nursing Intervention

Examining the Self-Harm and Suicide Contagion Effects of the Blue Whale Challenge on YouTube and Twitter: Qualitative Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About