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.
Conditions
HIV/AIDS
Recruitment Status
Completed
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.
Eligibility Criteria
PATIENTS:
Inclusion Criteria:
between 13-25 years old
HIV positive
enrolled in treatment at a participating study site
owns or has ability to access a smartphone (e.g., iPhone, Android) for one year
Exclusion Criteria:
Non-English speaker or
Visually/hearing impaired
CASE MANAGERS:
Inclusion Criteria:
Actively employed at a participating study site
Performs case management duties with HIV-positive patients aged 13-25 years.
Exclusion Criteria:
(None)
Intervention
Intervention Type
Intervention Name
Device
PlusCare
Phase
Not Applicable
Gender
All
Min Age
13 Years
Max Age
25 Years
Download Date
October 26, 2023
Principal Investigator
N/A
Primary Contact Information
For more information on this trial, visit clinicaltrials.gov.
Contact
For more information and to contact the study team: