Effect of a mobile application promoting HIV prevention on knowledge of the benefits and uptake of HIV testing in Lagos, Nigeria

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study addresses the low uptake of HIV counselling and testing (HCT) services for HIV prevention in Nigeria. A pre-test/post-test control-group design was employed to explore the effect of a mobile application (app) promoting HIV prevention on knowledge of benefits and uptake of HIV testing by people in Lagos metropolis.A simple random sampling was used to select 134 individuals from a convenience sample of 403 volunteers on Facebook. Ultimately 128 people gave consent to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to either an experimental group that received the mobile application on their devices or a control group. Participants completed an online questionnaire hosted on www.surveymonkey.com in September/October 2013 before the experimental group received the app for use on their mobile devices. Participants also completed the same questionnaire after twelve weeks. The study was conducted between August 2013 and January 2014.A total of 101 participants completed the survey at pre-test level; no participants were lost to follow up at post-test. Participants' mean age was 29.66, with a median age of 28 years. The sample was represented by 35.4% females; 34% of participants were married. All participants completed senior secondary school education. Overall 70% of the sample did not have an HIV test in the preceding 12 months. Concerning risk profiles, 16.3% reported having sex with a non-regular partner in the preceding three months and 26.2% used condoms during the same period. A one-way analysis of covariance determined that the difference between the adjusted experimental group mean (M = 5.588, SE = .066) and the adjusted control group mean (M = 3.622, SE = .068) was statistically significant beyond the 0.01 level; (F(1, 100) = 429.575, p < .001, η2 = .814). The strength of the relationship, assessed with eta squared η2, was strong, with the treatment variable accounting for 81% of the variance in level of knowledge of benefits of HCT. Mobile app use was significantly associated with HIV testing: χ 2(1) = 5.099, p=.024; and the effect was moderate, ϕ = -.246, p = .024. A hierarchical loglinear model selection with a backwards elimination stepwise procedure produced a suitable model of two two-way associations of gender*HIV testing and HIV testing* marital status which had a likelihood ratio of χ 2(2) = 1.078, p =.583. The app could create demand for HIV testing and help to reach segments of the population who may be underserved due to punitive discrimination laws or restrictions posed by conservative environments.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University