Utilization of an Animated Electronic Health Video to Increase Knowledge of Post- and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Among African American Women: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background Despite renewed focus on biomedical prevention strategies since the publication of several clinical trials highlighting the efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), knowledge of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) and PrEP continues to remain scarce among women, especially among African American women who are disproportionally affected by HIV. In an effort to address this barrier and encourage uptake of PEP and PrEP, an electronic health (eHealth) video was created using an entertainment-education format. Objective The study aimed to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preference of an avatar-led, eHealth video, PEP and PrEP for Women, to increase awareness and knowledge of PEP and PrEP for HIV in a sample of African American women. Methods A cross-sectional, Web-based study was conducted with 116 African American women aged 18 to 61 years to measure participants’ perceived acceptability of the video on a 5-point scale: poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent. Backward stepwise regression was used to the find the outcome variable of a higher rating of the PEP and PrEP for Women video. Thematic analysis was conducted to explore the reasons for recommending the video to others after watching the eHealth video. Results Overall, 89% of the participants rated the video as good or higher. A higher rating of the educational video was significantly predicted by: no current use of drugs/alcohol (beta=−.814; P =.004), not having unprotected sex in the last 3 months (beta=−.488; P =.03), higher income (beta=.149; P =.03), lower level of education (beta=−.267; P =.005), and lower exposure to sexual assault since the age of 18 years (beta=−.313; P =.004). After watching the eHealth video, reasons for recommending the video included the video being educational, entertaining, and suitable for women. Conclusions Utilization of an avatar-led eHealth video fostered education about PEP and PrEP among African American women who have experienced insufficient outreach for biomedical HIV strategies. This approach can be leveraged to increase awareness and usage among African American women.

eHealth Communication With Clients at Community-Based HIV/AIDS Service Organizations in the Southern United States: Cross-Sectional Survey

“…In this study, among the staff recruited from community-based HIV/AIDS service organizations located in South Carolina and Texas, more than half used email and text message to communicate with their clients. In addition to the vast number of US adults who are online, another contributing factor to this study's findings is the fact that most people living with HIV are men who have sex with men who, studies have shown, go online for health information and social networking [ 10 ]. Additionally, the fact that most of the community-based HIV/AIDS service organization staff who participated in the study were completely or very confident that electronically shared information was protected and private is also a contributing factor to electronic communication with clients, and interest in eHealth communication with clients in the future.…”

Parents ASSIST (Advancing Supportive and Sexuality-Inclusive Sex Talks): Iterative Development of a Sex Communication Video Series for Parents of Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Male Adolescents

“…Voiceover actors included undergraduate students with backgrounds in theater performance from the University of Pennsylvania. The cast of animated characters was meant to represent people from different cultural backgrounds through dress, gender, ethnicity, and age to tailor the video to a diverse population (Bond & Ramos, 2019). Previous research has found that culturally tailored eHealth videos could be used to increase awareness of HIV prevention methods, since the viewers may identify with the characters of the stories and lessen their resistance to the health message (Bond & Ramos, 2019).…”

Electronic Dissemination of a Web-Based Video Promotes PrEP Contemplation and Conversation Among US Women Engaged in Care at Planned Parenthood

“…Electronic delivery of HIV prevention interventions enables broad dissemination of knowledge and requires fewer resources than in-person delivery, while yielding significant effects on sexual health and health behavior [ 7 ]. In studies conducted with women, including studies with Black and Latinx women specifically, electronically-delivered HIV prevention interventions have been highly acceptable and similar or superior in efficacy than interventions delivered in person [ 8 – 14 ]. To date, few studies have evaluated electronically-delivered interventions that focus particularly on PrEP education among women [ 8 , 9 ].…”

“…In studies conducted with women, including studies with Black and Latinx women specifically, electronically-delivered HIV prevention interventions have been highly acceptable and similar or superior in efficacy than interventions delivered in person [ 8 – 14 ]. To date, few studies have evaluated electronically-delivered interventions that focus particularly on PrEP education among women [ 8 , 9 ]. One study evaluated a brief web-based educational video about PrEP among a community-based sample of 116 Black women and found the video to be highly acceptable [ 8 ].…”

“…To date, few studies have evaluated electronically-delivered interventions that focus particularly on PrEP education among women [ 8 , 9 ]. One study evaluated a brief web-based educational video about PrEP among a community-based sample of 116 Black women and found the video to be highly acceptable [ 8 ]. Specifically, 78% of women watched the full 9-min video, of whom 89% rated it favorably, 76% reported intention to seek PrEP, and 91% indicated that they would recommend it to others.…”