Text Messaging to Improve HIV Testing Among Young Women in Kenya (T2T)

August 14, 2015 updated by: Njambi Njuguna, University of Washington

Evaluating Feasibility and Potential Impact of Text Messages on HIV Awareness Among Young Women in Rural Kenya: a Pilot Study

The purpose of this study is to determine whether regularly scheduled HIV sensitization text messages (SMS) are effective in increasing HIV testing rates among young women in Kenya.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In Kenya, women have higher rates of infection (6.9%) than men (4.4%) and young women aged 15-24 years are over three times more likely to be infected than young men of the same age group. HIV testing and counseling remains critical to identifying new infections and preventing the spread of HIV but many young women do not test and still continue to engage in high risk behavior.

HIV programs have begun to leverage mobile phones and text messages to increase the reach and scale of interventions. Kenya currently has 32.2 million mobile phone subscribers, representing a 79.2% country penetration. Text messages have been used successfully in Kenya for marketing purposes and have even been demonstrated to increase antiretroviral (ART) adherence. Despite advances in mobile-based applications to improve issues in health, none of these health applications have yet been able to reach the scale of mobile phone-based financial products in Kenya.

Given the potential synergies of text message use and need for HIV testing, a randomized quasi-experimental study was conducted to test whether weekly text messages encouraging HIV testing and improving HIV awareness would increase HIV testing, enhance HIV risk perception and reduce high risk behaviour among young women 18-24 years old in a predominantly rural region in Kenya.

Women in the intervention arm received access to a suite of HIV sensitization text messages sent weekly to increase their awareness of HIV and encourage them to test with the option of texting back for more information to a maximum of three times per week. Women in the control arm did not receive these messages. All women were followed up for six months with monthly SMS surveys collecting data on their HIV testing practices, sexual behaviour and risk perception.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

600

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Kenya
      • Nairobi, Kenya, 00202
        • Partners in Health and Research Development (Phrd)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 24 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Own a mobile phone which they don't share and which operates on a telecom provider supported by our SMS platform
  • Be HIV uninfected (by self report) or not know their HIV status
  • Report not having tested for HIV in the preceding 12 months
  • Know how to send and receive SMS
  • Must consent to the study
  • Have regular access to electricity for charging a cell phone

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Did not consent to the study
  • Did not meet inclusion criteria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Behavioural
Intervention arm receiving weekly HIV sensitization text messages
Behavioral: Weekly HIV sensitization text messages
Weekly HIV sensitization text messages with option to text back up to 3 times per week for additional messages. Message topics included pregnancy, condoms, sexually transmitted infections, contraceptives, anal sex and personal risk of HIV. All messages ended with the phrase "Get tested for HIV".
No Intervention: Control
No weekly messages were sent to this group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
First HIV test
Time Frame: End of study (6 months after enrollment)
Time to first reported HIV test will be compared between the two study arms
End of study (6 months after enrollment)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reported sexual behaviour patterns
Time Frame: End of study (6 months after enrollment)
Sexual behaviour data (number of new sexual partners, concurrent sexual partnerships and number of sex acts where condoms are used) was collected via a text message survey monthly during study follow up and responses will be compared between the two study arms
End of study (6 months after enrollment)
Self perception of risk
Time Frame: End of study (6 months after enrollment)
Self perception of HIV risk in both arms will be compared against HIV testing habits and sexual partnerships
End of study (6 months after enrollment)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Washington

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health
Grand Challenges Canada

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Njambi Njuguna, MBChB,MPH, University of Washington; Kenyatta National Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 14, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

August 18, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 18, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2015

Last Verified

August 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 49533-EJ
  • D43TW009580 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • S4 0254-01 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Grand Challenges Canada)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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