Dataset Information

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Process Indicators for Guy2Guy, an mHealth HIV Prevention Program for Sexual Minority Adolescent Boys.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Guy2Guy is one of the first mHealth HIV prevention programs for sexual minority boys aged 14-18 years, evaluated nationally. Here, we examine the program's feasibility and acceptability and explore participants' feedback about program content and components intended to invigorate program engagement.

Methods

Guy2Guy was tested in a randomized controlled trial of 302 youth assigned to either the intervention or an attention-matched control group. At 3-month follow-up, participants completed a survey that included questions about feasibility and acceptability. Focus groups were conducted with a subset of intervention participants (n = 45) to further understand their program experience.

Results

The protocol and program appeared to be feasible: 94% completed the 3-month follow-up survey. The intervention also appeared to be acceptable: 93% of intervention participants said they somewhat or strongly agreed that they liked the program. Although ∼20% boys agreed that the program sent too many messages, only 10% said they stopped reading the messages by the end. Focus group participants were largely enthusiastic about program content and generally appreciated receiving information and skills-building messages that talked about HIV risk reduction. Some indicated a desire for more content that addressed condom negotiation. Program engagement components, particularly the weekly "level up" quiz, also were generally well received.

Conclusions

Sexual minority boys are willing to engage in Guy2Guy, an intensive, multiweek sexual health intervention via text messaging, and most would recommend the program to their friends.

SUBMITTER: Ybarra ML

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7182121 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Process Indicators for Guy2Guy, an mHealth HIV Prevention Program for Sexual Minority Adolescent Boys.

Ybarra Michele L ML Prescott Tonya T Mustanski Brian B Parsons Jeffrey J Bull Sheana S SS

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 20190702 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>Guy2Guy is one of the first mHealth HIV prevention programs for sexual minority boys aged 14-18 years, evaluated nationally. Here, we examine the program's feasibility and acceptability and explore participants' feedback about program content and components intended to invigorate program engagement.<h4>Methods</h4>Guy2Guy was tested in a randomized controlled trial of 302 youth assigned to either the intervention or an attention-matched control group. At 3-month follow-up, partic ...[more]

PMID: 31277991

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Project description:Although construct measurement is critical to explanatory research and intervention efforts, rigorous measure development remains a notable challenge. For example, though the primary theoretical model for understanding health disparities among sexual minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual) adolescents is minority stress theory, nearly all published studies of this population rely on minority stress measures with poor psychometric properties and development procedures. In response, we developed the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory (SMASI) with N = 346 diverse adolescents ages 14-17, using a comprehensive approach to de novo measure development designed to produce a measure with desirable psychometric properties. After exploratory factor analysis on 102 candidate items informed by a modified Delphi process, we applied item response theory techniques to the remaining 72 items. Discrimination and difficulty parameters and item characteristic curves were estimated overall, within each of 12 initially derived factors, and across demographic subgroups. Two items were removed for excessive discrimination and three were removed following reliability analysis. The measure demonstrated configural and scalar invariance for gender and age; a three-item factor was excluded for demonstrating substantial differences by sexual identity and race/ethnicity. The final 64-item measure comprised 11 subscales and demonstrated excellent overall (? = 0.98), subscale (? range 0.75-0.96), and test-retest (scale r > 0.99; subscale r range 0.89-0.99) reliabilities. Subscales represented a mix of proximal and distal stressors, including domains of internalized homonegativity, identity management, intersectionality, and negative expectancies (proximal) and social marginalization, family rejection, homonegative climate, homonegative communication, negative disclosure experiences, religion, and work domains (distal). Thus, the SMASI development process illustrates a method to incorporate information from multiple sources, including item response theory models, to guide item selection in building a psychometrically sound measure. We posit that similar methods can be used to improve construct measurement across all areas of psychological research, particularly in areas where a strong theoretical framework exists but existing measures are limited.

Project description:BackgroundSexual assault is associated with increased risk for both posttraumatic stress (PTS) and alcohol misuse. Mobile health interventions have shown promise in addressing PTS and substance use in trauma survivors and might be a promising strategy in extending the reach of early interventions to individuals who have recently experienced trauma.ObjectiveThis study assesses the feasibility and acceptability of THRIVE, a mobile health early intervention for recent survivors of sexual assault involving a cognitive behavioral app used daily over 21 days with weekly telephone coaching.MethodsTwenty adult female survivors of past-10-week sexual assault with elevated PTS and alcohol use were randomized to receive the THRIVE intervention as part of a pilot randomized controlled trial. We sought to understand feasibility by examining rates of completion of intervention activities and testing changes in participants' self-reported knowledge of key intervention concepts from baseline to after the intervention. We assessed acceptability by collecting self-report ratings of satisfaction with the intervention and app usability in a follow-up survey. The coach took notes during coaching calls to track call content and record participant feedback; these notes were qualitatively analyzed to elaborate on the aforementioned domains.ResultsFeasibility was demonstrated by moderate rates of activity completion: all participants at least opened the app, 19 (95%) of the 20 participants completed at least 1 cognitive behavioral exercise, and 16 (80%) of the 20 participants attended all 4 coaching calls. Participants completed cognitive behavioral exercises on an average of 10.40 (SD 6.52) out of 21 days. The coaching call notes documented participant comments that app-generated reminders increased completion rates. Feasibility was also demonstrated by the finding that knowledge changes occurred from baseline to after the intervention; this indicated that THRIVE was successful in conveying key concepts. Acceptability was demonstrated by high participant ratings of THRIVE's usability; the ratings corresponded to a B+ usability grade. The coaching call notes documented that usability was increased by the coaching calls, the app exercises' clarity, and the app exercises' inclusion of suggestions; however, the coaching call notes also documented that some of the participants found aspects of the app exercises to be difficult or confusing. Acceptability was also demonstrated by participant ratings of satisfaction: most of the participants (15/16, 94%) rated the app as either moderately helpful or very helpful. The coaching call notes documented that the cognitive behavioral activity modules were seen as appealing and that the positive impact of the intervention contributed to participants' satisfaction.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that THRIVE is feasible and acceptable to survivors of recent sexual assault and that further testing of THRIVE is warranted.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03703258; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03703258.

Dataset Information

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Process Indicators for Guy2Guy, an mHealth HIV Prevention Program for Sexual Minority Adolescent Boys.

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Process Indicators for Guy2Guy, an mHealth HIV Prevention Program for Sexual Minority Adolescent Boys.

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