Online Program

282757
Streaming weekly soap opera video episodes to smartphones in a randomized controlled trial to reduce HIV risk in young urban African American/black women


Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 8:30 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.

Rachel Jones, PhD, RN, FAAN, School of Nursing, Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Lorraine Lacroix, MPH, School of Nursing, Institue on Urban Health Research and Practice, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Donald R. Hoover, PhD, Statistics & Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Background: Love, Sex, and Choices is a 12-episode soap opera video series created as an intervention to reduce HIV risk and evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. To provide convenient, on-demand access and privacy, weekly videos were streamed to study-provided smartphones. We describe deployment of smartphones for use by 238 urban, predominately African American, young adult women at high-risk for HIV.

Objective/Purpose: Discuss the development of a mobile platform to deliver 12-weekly videos and HIV risk reduction messages; including criteria to select smartphones, video format, pilot testing, and evaluation.

Methods: Smartphones were used to access weekly videos or messages, respond to content-related questions, and to communicate via email. Decisions on platform development required extensive pilot testing. The start and stop time was logged whenever a video episode was watched, providing data to support intervention fidelity.

Results: This was a high risk sample of 238, 18-to-29 year old women, mean age, 22. The majority was African American (n =210, 88.2%). Nearly all of the 117 in the video group enjoyed watching video on smartphones (n =113, 96.6%) and felt they watched in privacy (n =113, 96.6%). Only 2 missed episodes. Nearly all watched each episode at least once. There were disadvantages. A sizable number of phones were damaged or stolen. At times there was asynchronous audio and video.

Discussion/Conclusions: Data provided evidence of treatment adherence. Nearly all enjoyed watching on smartphones. Episodes were rarely missed; most replayed episodes. There was a steep curve in time and expense during technical development. Once developed, the intervention is standardized, can be widely distributed, and access can be tracked. This is the first study to report on streaming video to smartphones as a public health intervention. Increasing smartphone access and video streaming capability have created a paradigm shift, opening new channels to address health disparities.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of streaming video to smartphones as an approach to health promotion. Describe considerations in selecting a smartphone, in formatting video, and developing a mobile phone platform to deliver weekly video and text-based messages to smartphones. Describe how intervention fidelity was tracked in this study, and how smartphones were utilized to facilitate attrition reduction.

Keyword(s): Women and HIV/AIDS, HIV Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am associate professor at School of Nursing and Faculty Scholar at the Institutes of Urban Health Research at Northeastern University. I’m the principal investigator of multiple NIH funding awards for development and testing of soap opera videos to reduce urban women’s HIV risk on mobile devices, and published multiple peer-reviewed papers and a book chapter. My primary scientific interests are reducing women’s HIV risk through innovative methods and theories.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.