Videogame intervention to encourage HIV testing and counseling among adolescents.

HIV Testing & Counseling (HTC) Serious game behavior change videogame, adolescents

Journal

mHealth
ISSN: 2306-9740
Titre abrégé: Mhealth
Pays: China
ID NLM: 101678564

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
2020
Historique:
received: 05 09 2019
accepted: 10 01 2020
entrez: 8 7 2020
pubmed: 8 7 2020
medline: 8 7 2020
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Adolescents in the United States account for one-fifth of new HIV cases, and have the highest rate of undiagnosed HIV, with more than half (51%) not knowing their status. It is a crucial public health concern to help equip youth with the information and autonomy to minimize their risk and know their status. Serious videogames are emerging as valuable tools for health and behavior change in adolescents, and have potential to engage this population and increase their use of HIV testing and counseling (HTC). The purpose of this study was to: (I) modify an original serious game targeting risk reduction and HIV prevention developed by the play2PREVENT Lab and create a new serious game that focuses on HTC; (II) evaluate its feasibility and acceptability; (III) pilot-test the assessment measures that are subsequently being used in a large randomized controlled trial. Three focus groups with adolescents, aged 14-17 (n=13, mean age =15), informed artwork and storylines for For the focus groups used in the game development, four major themes emerged: (I) adolescents have strong misperceptions about HTC, including who should get tested and what the test entails; (II) adolescents have incorrect knowledge about how HIV is contracted, spread, and treated; (III) adolescents are supportive of their peers getting tested for HIV, but are not likely to get tested themselves; (IV) while the majority of adolescents know where to get tested for HIV, social stigma, misperceptions around HTC, and fear of having a positive diagnosis keep them from seeking it. For the pilot study, overall, participant experience with the game was highly favorable. The assessments were sensitive enough to capture changes in our target variables: intentions (P=0.037) and knowledge (P=0.025) related to HTC at follow-up. The

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Adolescents in the United States account for one-fifth of new HIV cases, and have the highest rate of undiagnosed HIV, with more than half (51%) not knowing their status. It is a crucial public health concern to help equip youth with the information and autonomy to minimize their risk and know their status. Serious videogames are emerging as valuable tools for health and behavior change in adolescents, and have potential to engage this population and increase their use of HIV testing and counseling (HTC). The purpose of this study was to: (I) modify an original serious game targeting risk reduction and HIV prevention developed by the play2PREVENT Lab and create a new serious game that focuses on HTC; (II) evaluate its feasibility and acceptability; (III) pilot-test the assessment measures that are subsequently being used in a large randomized controlled trial.
METHODS METHODS
Three focus groups with adolescents, aged 14-17 (n=13, mean age =15), informed artwork and storylines for
RESULTS RESULTS
For the focus groups used in the game development, four major themes emerged: (I) adolescents have strong misperceptions about HTC, including who should get tested and what the test entails; (II) adolescents have incorrect knowledge about how HIV is contracted, spread, and treated; (III) adolescents are supportive of their peers getting tested for HIV, but are not likely to get tested themselves; (IV) while the majority of adolescents know where to get tested for HIV, social stigma, misperceptions around HTC, and fear of having a positive diagnosis keep them from seeking it. For the pilot study, overall, participant experience with the game was highly favorable. The assessments were sensitive enough to capture changes in our target variables: intentions (P=0.037) and knowledge (P=0.025) related to HTC at follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS
The

Identifiants

pubmed: 32632364
doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2020.01.05
pii: mh-06-2020.01.05
pmc: PMC7327291
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

26

Subventions

Organisme : NHLBI NIH HHS
ID : K12 HL138037
Pays : United States
Organisme : NICHD NIH HHS
ID : R41 HD088317
Pays : United States
Organisme : NICHD NIH HHS
ID : R42 HD088317
Pays : United States

Informations de copyright

2020 mHealth. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/mhealth.2020.01.05). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Auteurs

Tyra Pendergrass (T)

Yale Center for Health and Learning Games, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.

Kimberly Hieftje (K)

Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Lindsay Duncan (L)

Yale Center for Health and Learning Games, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.

Lynn Fiellin (L)

Yale Center for Health and Learning Games, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.

Classifications MeSH