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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03928717

A Text-Based Adherence Game for Young People Living With HIV in Ghana

This study will develop and evaluate a game-based, text message intervention to promote adherence to HIV care among young people living with HIV (YPLH) in Ghana. Intervention development will be guided by feedback from YPLH, their treatment supporters, and clinic staff, consultation with a mobile health services team, and Social Action Theory. Patient participants will be recruited from an urban HIV clinic in Accra, Ghana to complete a randomized pilot of the intervention. All participants will receive a brief adherence counseling session and complete three assessments over the course of 12 months following enrollment. During this time, intervention participants will receive text messages and phone calls from a semi-automated text message system, clinic staff, and other individuals in their life (e.g., family, friends, and partners) who they have identified as supportive of their treatment. The study will provide a wealth of knowledge about YPLH in Ghana, a group vulnerable to poor treatment outcomes, and provide preliminary data on a novel adherence promotion intervention.

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Key information

Conditions

HIV/AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Behavior Blood-Borne Infections Communicable Diseases Genital Diseases HIV Infections Health Behavior Immune System Diseases Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes Infections Lentivirus Infections Medication Adherence Patient Acceptance of Health Care Patient Compliance RNA Virus Infections Retroviridae Infections Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral Slow Virus Diseases Treatment Adherence and Compliance Urogenital Diseases Virus Diseases

Age range

18 year–24 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

Kumasi, Ghana

About this study

Maintaining lifelong adherence to HIV care is a major challenge for older adolescents and young adults (young people) living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV infection is globally most prevalent. Innovative, low cost, and easily scaled strategies are urgently needed to improve young people's engagement to HIV treatment and reduce the public health consequences associated with nonadherence including secondary transmission of HIV infection. Modern mobile health (mHealth) interventions improve adherence to care among young people but are currently not feasible for many low-resource areas of sub-Saharan Africa. This includes theory-driven applications that use gamification, where real-life adherence behaviors are combined with interesting story-lines in a mobile game to promote HIV treatment engagement. Whereas web and smartphone access can be limited, traditional cellphones and text messaging are near universal and have been used previously to promote adherence through simple reminders and linkage to staff support in sub-Saharan Africa. However, to date, no text message adherence intervention has been enhanced through the use of gamification. To increase access to this potentially powerful intervention approach, the current study will test a novel mHealth intervention that uses text messages to gamify adherence behavior among YPLH in Ghana. Piloting this intervention will provide information on its feasibility and signs of preliminary efficacy. The ultimate goal following is further evaluation and refinement will be to disseminate the intervention on a large scale across Ghana and other areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Living with HIV
  • Reads English and speaks English or a local language (e.g., Twi)
  • On antiretroviral therapy
  • Access to mobile phone throughout study period
  • Able to give consent and not impaired by cognitive or medical limitations as per clinical assessment
  • Not involved with another HIV prevention or adherence study
  • Evidence of a detectable viral load

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

Text-Based Adherence Game

Behavioral

A mobile health intervention facilitated by a cloud-hosted web application and designed to promote adherence to HIV care through text message-delivered gamification strategies including peer comparison, point reinforcement, feedback on adherence outcomes, facilitation of social support, and use of an engaging and culturally-relevant story-line.

Standard of Care (SOC)

Behavioral

A 10- to 20-minute in-person intervention led by a trained HIV treatment adherence counselor focused on providing basic knowledge of HIV and HIV treatment, motivating participants to engage in HIV treatment, and problem-solving barriers to adherence.

Primary outcomes

  1. HIV-1 Viral Load (log10 Transformed)

    Time frame: Past 90 days

    This is a measure of the number of copies of HIV in a person's blood (i.e., copies per ml). It was assessed through blood draw and lab testing. For analyses, raw viral load was log10 transformed to reduce skewness.

  2. Self-reported Medication Adherence

    Time frame: Past 30 days

    The 3-item Self-Report Medication Adherence Scale is used to measure self-reported antiretroviral adherence in the past 30 days. Responses to each of the three items are linearly transformed to a 0-100 scale with zero being the worst adherence and 100 the best. A total score is calculated as the mean of the three individual item scores and ranges from 0 to 100.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Rhode Island Hospital

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Registry information

Acronym: TAG

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2023
Study completion
2023
First posted
Apr 26, 2019
Registry last updated
Jun 4, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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