CyberSenga: Internet-based HIV Prevention in Uganda

Center for Innovative Public Health Research

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 1

Conditions: Condom Use; Sexual Abstinence

Treatments: Behavioral: CyberSenga

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00906178

ISK-NIH-MH080662

5R01MH080662 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators propose to design and test an Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents in Uganda.

Full description

HIV/AIDS is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in Uganda. Despite aggressive advances in HIV prevention efforts, recent data suggest that HIV prevalence is increasing generally, and HIV knowledge, a direct contributor to behavior, is on the decline among young people specifically as compared to a decade ago.

The Internet is a promising mode of intervention delivery in resource poor-settings because the costs associated with scaling up are minimal; dissemination online is the same if one person or 100,000 people use the program. Just as important, it provides access to important health information in a stigma-free, anonymous atmosphere. Our recent data indicate that 45% of adolescents in Mbarara, Uganda have used the Internet, 78% of whom went online at least once in the previous week. Eighty-one percent of respondents in the same survey indicated they would go to an HIV prevention web site if it existed. Based upon these data, we propose to develop a culturally appropriate, Internet-based HIV prevention program designed specifically for Ugandan adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Our specific aims are as follows:

Specific Aim 1: Design a 6-hour, Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents. Content will be culturally tailored to the HIV preventive information, motivation, and behavioral skills needs of Ugandan adolescents.

Specific Aim 2: Test the intervention in a randomized controlled trial (n=500) among adolescents attending grades Secondary 1-4 (similar to US high school grades 8th - 11th) at day schools in Mbarara.

This project has the potential to develop low-cost and salable interventions to HIV transmission risk behaviors among adolescents in Uganda.

Enrollment: 366 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Enrollment in grades Secondary 1 through 4 at a partner secondary school
• Having used a computer or the Internet at least once in the past year
• Not having been part of the intervention development activities
• Caregiver informed permission and adolescent informed assent

Exclusion criteria

• none

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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366 participants in 2 patient groups

CyberSenga

Experimental group

Description:

6-module HIV prevention program tailored for adolescents in Uganda

Treatment:

Behavioral: CyberSenga

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

"treatment as usual" - the sexual health education adolescents currently receive in secondary school