A DSS to Assess Urban Women's HIV Sexual Risk Behavior

Rutgers The State Univ Of Nj Newark, Newark NJ

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Young urban women continue to be at risk for heterosexual transmission of HIV. The primary goal of this proposed information system project is to develop a functional prototype of a decision support system (DSS) that will assess sexual risk behaviors associated with transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in urban women, and provide feedback in the form of video vignettes. These video vignettes will communicate health promotion messages that are tailored to HIV sexual risk behavior. To assess HIV sexual risk behavior in young, urban women in neighborhood and clinical settings, an audio computer assisted self-interview (ACASI) will be developed. Using ACASI, the participant can simultaneously read questionnaire items on a computer screen and hear the items on a headset. Numeric responses are entered using a touch screen or numeric keypad. Feedback will be immediately provided in the form of culturally relevant video vignettes. The ACASI/DSS will be developed for use evaluation on handheld, laptop, and desktop computers. The small screen of the hand held computer and use of a headset promote privacy. Thus, the hand held may be a viable option as an adjunct approach to health promotion, particularly, when portability and privacy are desired. The ACASI/DSS will be pilot tested in urban women, aged 18 to 25 in several public housing developments and in a public, sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic in order to evaluate the capability of the system to conduct audio assisted interviews about HIV sexual risk behaviors, deliver relevant video vignettes as feedback, preserve privacy, and operate on a W-WAN; and to determine whether the handheld computer is an acceptable delivery device for viewing text and videos when compared to a laptop or desktop computer. This proposal addresses a Healthy People 2010 objective concerning health communication; specifically, in populations where literacy may be a concern. Our objectives meet several goals of this Information System Grant, including: creating a unique digital information resource, customizing information services to meet the needs of special audiences, delivering information resources to underserved urban populations, applying a new information technology to improve access to information, and designing and testing a new information service. The development and evaluation of this approach are preliminary to a R01 research proposal to study the effectiveness of a computerized decision support intervention that will rely on automated rules to deliver tailored, video health promotion messages as feedback to HIV risk behavior.