BACKGROUND
In the United States, adolescents and young adults are disproportionately affected by HIV and have poorer HIV-related health outcomes than adults. Health care transition from pediatric/adolescent- to adult-oriented HIV care is associated with disruptions to youths’ care retention, medication adherence, and viral suppression. Yet, no evidence-based interventions exist to improve health care transition outcomes for youth living with HIV.
OBJECTIVE
There are two phases of this project. Phase 1 involves the iterative development and usability testing of a Social Cognitive Theory-based mHealth (mobile health) HIV health care transition intervention (iTransition). In Phase 2, we will conduct a pilot implementation trial to assess iTransition’s feasibility and acceptability as well as to establish preliminary efficacy among youth and provider participants.
METHODS
The iterative Phase 1 development process will involve in-person and virtual meetings a Design Team comprised of youth living with HIV and clinic providers. The Design Team will both inform content and provide feedback on the look, feel, and process of the iTransition intervention. In Phase 2, we will recruit 100 transition-eligible youth across two clinical sites in Atlanta, GA and Philadelphia, PA to participate in the historical control group (n=50; data collection only) or the intervention group (n=50) in a pilot implementation trial. We will also recruit 28 provider participants across the pediatric/adolescent and adult clinics in the two sites. Data collection will include, electronic medical chart abstraction for clinical outcomes, and surveys and interviews related to demographic and behavioral characteristics, Social Cognitive Theory constructs, and intervention feasibility, acceptability, and usage. Analyses will compare historical control and intervention groups in terms of health care transition outcomes, including adult care linkage [primary] and care retention and viral suppression [secondary].
RESULTS
Phase 1 participant recruitment began in November 2019. Phase 2 data collection is anticipated to end in August 2022.
CONCLUSIONS
The development and pilot trial of the iTransition intervention will fill an important gap in understanding the role of mHealth interventions to support health care transition outcomes for youth living with HIV.
CLINICALTRIAL
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04383223; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04383223
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