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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 Apr 16;10(4):e0125187.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125187. eCollection 2015.

Short message service (SMS)-based intervention to improve treatment adherence among HIV-positive youth in Uganda: focus group findings

Yashodhara Rana  1 , Jessica Haberer  2 , Haijing Huang  1 , Andrew Kambugu  3 , Barbara Mukasa  4 , Harsha Thirumurthy  5 , Peter Wabukala  4 , Glenn J Wagner  1 , Sebastian Linnemayr  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Short message service (SMS)-based intervention to improve treatment adherence among HIV-positive youth in Uganda: focus group findings

Yashodhara Rana et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This paper presents one of the first qualitative studies to discuss programmatic barriers to SMS-based interventions for HIV-positive youth and discusses pathways through which youth perceive them to work. We conducted six focus groups with 20 male and 19 female HIV-positive youths in two clinics in Kampala, Uganda. We find that youth commonly use SMS as over 90% of this study's youths knew how to read, write and send messages and almost three-fourths of them had phones. Youth strongly felt that the success of this intervention hinged on ensuring confidentiality about their HIV-positive status. Key programmatic challenges discussed where restrictions on phone use and phone sharing that could exclude some youth. Participants felt that the intervention would improve their adherence by providing them with needed reminders and social support. Youths' suggestions about intervention logistics related to content, frequency, timing and two-way messages will be helpful to practitioners in the field.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. IMB model adapted to RATA intervention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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