Evaluation of a Computer-Based HIV Education Program for Adults Living with HIV

Abstract

This study evaluated a computer-delivered HIV and antiretroviral treatment education program in adults (N = 102) living with detectable HIV viral loads (> 200 copies/mL). The self-paced program provided immediate feedback for responses and financial incentives for responding correctly. The program was divided into three courses and a test of content from all three courses was delivered before and after participants completed each course. Test scores on the content delivered in Courses 1, 2 and 3 improved only after participants completed training on the relevant course. Initial test scores were positively correlated with health literacy and academic achievement; were negatively correlated with viral load; and were lowest for participants living in poverty. Education, academic achievement, and health literacy were related to how much participants learned following each course. Computer-based education is a convenient, effective approach to promoting an understanding of HIV and its treatment.

Keywords: Fluency training; Health education; Instructional technology; Medication adherence; Multiple-probe design.

Figure 1

Each graph shows the percentage correct on each subtest across each of the four administrations of the test. The top panel shows percentage correct on Subtest 1 (Course 1), the middle panel shows percentage correct on Subtest 2 (Course 2), and the bottom panel shows percentage correct on Subtest 3 (Course 3). Percentage correct is averaged across participants and error bars are standard deviation. The vertical dashed lines indicate when participants completed each Course within the HIV education program. Horizontal dotted lines represent percentage correct by chance.

Figure 2

Acceptability ratings of the HIV education program collected after participants completed the final test. Each filled circle represents a single participant’s rating (circles are overlapping when many participants provided the same rating) and the bars represent the mean rating across all respondents. The number of respondents for each item is listed above each bar. The first eight items are visual analog scale (VAS) ratings for each adjective with anchors of “Not at All” (0) and “Extremely” (100) and correspond to the left y-axis. The rightmost item shows ratings on a 1–5 Likert-type scale with anchors of “Strongly Disagree” (1) and “Strongly Agree” (5) and corresponds to the right y-axis. Wording for the rightmost two items are: *”The information I learned in the HIV Education Course will be helpful in managing my HIV treatment.” **”I will change how I manage my HIV in the future based on what I learned in the HIV Education Course.”