141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

288111
Using policy and data to inform the redesign of AIDS.gov website and other services


Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 11:10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Miguel Gomez, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC
Aisha L. Moore, MPH, John Snow, Inc., Arlington, VA
Michelle Samplin-Salgado, MPH, Health Services Division, John Snow, Inc., Boston, MA
Cathy Thomas, ICF International, Fairfax, VA
Michele Clark, MPH, John Snow, Inc., Boston, MA
Jeremy Vanderlan, ICF International, Fai, VA
     
Background: AIDS.gov is a Federal program that provides information on HIV programs, policies, and resources through its website, mobile site and new media channels. It is a mobilization program intended to reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities. AIDS.gov targets those most at-risk for HIV including racial and ethnic minority populations and at-risk subpopulations.

Objective/Purpose: Based upon available data and policy directives, AIDS.gov sought to redesign its products. The Digital Government Strategy asked Federal agencies to improve access to information by making it available “anytime, anywhere, on any device.” Data from the Pew Internet and American Life Center show that “among all cell phone owners, Latinos and African Americans, are more likely than other groups to look for health information on their phones.” AIDS.gov redesigned its website, blog, and HIV Testing and Care Services Locator to improve accessibility of health education and health policy information across multiple devices.

Methods:

AIDS.gov conducted pre-and post-usability of our website at the United States Conference on AIDS in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The qualitative data suggested the program should improve the users' ability to find desired information. AIDS.gov redesigned our tools using responsive web design and improved the information architecture for the AIDS.gov website, blog, and HIV Testing and Care Services Locator.

Results: At six months, visits and pageviews increased nearly 40% to our desktop site. Mobile device visits increased 478.34%. Usability post-testing indicates that users are more easily able to find the information they are looking for on both the desktop and mobile sites.

Discussion/conclusions: Federal agencies should align access to health education and health policy with the Digital Government Strategy. AIDS.gov found responsive web design as a viable way to increase traffic to health education information on mobile devices.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Communication and informatics
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Describe the Digital Government Strategy. Identify the populations who are more likely to look for health information using their phones. Describee one way optimizing health content for mobile devices can improve online health education and health promotion.

Keyword(s): Health Information

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the Director of AIDS.gov for six year. I have lead this program since its inception.
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.

Back to: 5112.0: Intersection of HIIT and health policy in the reduction of health disparities