A Social Media Intervention to Improve Retention in Care for Adolescents and Young Adults With HIV in Uganda

NCT06545968 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: MUST-2024-06-14K43TW012640
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 105
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Adolescents and young adults with HIV (AYWH) aged 15- 24 years are the fastest-growing population of people living with HIV worldwide. AYWH have worse outcomes along the HIV continuum of care than adults with HIV; HIV/AIDS is the second leading cause of mortality and the fourth leading cause of disability among AYWH worldwide. This study will develop a youth-friendly, mobile health (mHealth) intervention to improve retention in care that has the potential to improve AIDS-related mortality and morbidity among AYWH and decrease onward new transmission, thus contributing towards ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior

Keywords

Adolescents and young adults; HIV; mHealth; Retention in care

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• The primary intervention outcome will be the acceptability, feasibility of the intervention.

  Acceptability will be measured using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) and will be considered acceptable if ≥70% (35/50) of intervention participants rate all 4 items on the AIM (a 5-point Likert scale) as "agree" or higher. The intervention will be considered feasible if ≥70% (35/50) of intervention participants rate all 4 items on the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), (a 5-point Likert scale) as "agree" or higher.

  12 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Retention

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

Intervention arm

EXPERIMENTAL

These are the participants who will be randomised to receive the intervention at the start of the study.

Behavioral: A social media based intervention

Wait list control arm

NO INTERVENTION

These are participants who will not receive the intervention initially, but will move to the intervention arm after 6 months of follow-up

Interventions

A social media based intervention BEHAVIORAL

WatsApp-based modules to influence retention in care behaviour

Intervention arm

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may not qualify if:

• Clinic counsellors who are ≥18 years
• Clinic counsellors who have worked at the HIV clinic for ≥ 1 year
• \) Inability to provide consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mbarara University of Science and Technology: lead
• Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Mbarara, Uganda

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Julian Adong, MMed

  Mbarara University of Science and Technology

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Julian Adong, MMed

CONTACT

+256 755553595; jadong@must.ac.ug

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The proposed project is a mixed-methods prospective cohort study of adolescents and young adults with HIV, clinic counsellors. The study will design and test a social media mHealth intervention to improve retention in care for adolescents and young adults with HIV.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 25, 2024
• First Posted: August 9, 2024
• Study Start: October 25, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 30, 2028
• Last Updated: May 18, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

UG (1)