Communication technology use and mHealth acceptance among HIV-infected men who have sex with men in Peru: implications for HIV prevention and treatment.
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Date
2015-01-24
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Abstract
The HIV epidemic in Peru is concentrated among men who have sex with men MSM Given that MSM have been documented as early adopters of emerging technology we examined communication technology access and utilization and mobile health mHealth acceptance among Peruvian MSM and transgender women TGW in order to gauge opportunities for mHealth enabled HIV interventions A convenience sample of 359 HIV infected MSM and TGW recruited from three sites in Lima Peru completed standardized assessments of alcohol use disorders AUDs risky sexual behavior and antiretroviral therapy ART adherence along with self constructed measures of communication technology access and utilization and mHealth acceptance Most participants 86 had daily access to any cell phone including smartphones 30 The most frequent communication activities were receiving and making calls and receiving and sending text messages using cell phones On a 5 point Likert scale participants expressed interest in using mHealth for medication reminders M 3 21 SD 1 32 and engaging in anonymous online interactions with health professionals to discuss HIV related issues M 3 56 SD 1 33 Importantly no significant differences were found in communication technology use and mHealth acceptance among participants with AUDs depression and suboptimal ART adherence all of which are associated with poor HIV treatment outcomes Findings show support for implementing mHealth based intervention strategies using cell phones to assess and reduce HIV risk behaviors among HIV infected MSM and TGW
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Keywords
At risk for a particular disease or infection, Client, Access to information or data, Supply of services, Safe sex, HIV/AIDS, Social and behavior change communication, Health education or promotion, Treatment adherence, Disease prevention, Disease management, Voice, SMS, Text, Audio