Features
Built flexible and easy to adapt for various populations and health topics, the mobile app can be branded and tailored to your individual project. Projects choose to “turn on/off” features depending on project needs. Branding includes name, font, colors, icons, badges, avatars, and gamification.
Apps in young populations are highly acceptable and efficacious in improving adherence.1,2,3,4 Mobile health (mHealth) platforms allow real-time assessment of user behavior and adaptive delivery of tailored content to fit individual challenges. Given that adherence is a dynamic behavior that changes over time, using an app with built in tailoring and algorithms to respond to the participant’s inputs enables the delivery of more relevant and responsive support.
Community Building
Forum discussions and polls foster community support and peer-to-peer sharing within the app.
Engagement with social support features were the most frequently used intervention components and were associated with improved HIV care outcomes in HMP 1.0.5
In HMP 1.0, participants living with HIV whose posts challenged HIV stigma were more likely to report easier access to treatment and more likely to be in care. Conversely, participants whose posts reflected anticipated HIV stigma were less likely to be in care and to have had a recent viral load test. Participants who shared experiences of HIV stigma were more likely to report lower ART adherence over time.6
Activities & Articles
The resources center provides educational content across a range of health topics. The entire catalog of health and wellness resources including PrEP and PrEP side effects, adherence strategies, and general sexual and reproductive health can be leveraged, or individual articles/activities can be selected based upon your needs.
Quizzes and activities support app engagement and behavior change through information and skill-building.
Tailored health communication messaging promotes behavior change.7,8
Goals
Users are able to follow admin-created modules to assist them as they navigate achieving a goal or changing/starting a habit. Users can track their progress toward each milestone, following various action-oriented tasks to complete, connections to make among other users or health experts, tips to follow, and a journal space to write notes, document progress, or express feelings related to the goal.
Once complete, subsequent goals deemed as reasonable next steps or relevant to the current goal are suggested.
Health Tracker
Customize reminders to choose time, linked behavior, and message for daily medication reminders. Reminders improve adherence and are more effective combined with other habit-promoting strategies.9
Track and layer behaviors to see patterns and meet goals. Customized adherence tracking and metrics display daily and monthly progress to participants while raising awareness and modeling self-monitoring behavior toward consistent adherence habit. Youth want personalized reminders, messages, and accountability regarding medication taking.1,10
Calendar and User Analytics
Customizable in-app calendar displays upcoming study appointments and refill reminders. Participant app profile shows progress through the study with proportion of study visits completed. Tracking may increase attendance and retention.
The calendar and user analytics allow for self-monitoring and feedback.
Ask the Expert
Care Navigator and Ask the Expert features allow for direct connection to a healthcare provider to answer health and wellness questions, field study and app questions, and connect to resources.
Counselor/Peer Navigator Appointments
Adherence support groups for problem-solving build on prior experience with groups at sites. Peer and social support effectively promote adherence. Appointment reminders support continued engagement in care.
Avatar Customization
Gamification support ongoing engagement. Users can customize their profile’s avatar, from facial features to accessories.
Privacy & Security
Administrative Dashboard
App administrative dashboard content management system facilitates study execution.
