NCT00906178

CyberSenga: Internet-based HIV Prevention in Uganda

CyberSenga: Harnessing the Power of the Internet to Prevent HIV in Ugandan Youth

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 366 (actual)
• Sponsor: Center for Innovative Public Health Research · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The investigators propose to design and test an Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents in Uganda.

Detailed description

HIV/AIDS is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in Uganda. Despite aggressive advances in HIV prevention efforts, recent data suggest that HIV prevalence is increasing generally, and HIV knowledge, a direct contributor to behavior, is on the decline among young people specifically as compared to a decade ago. The Internet is a promising mode of intervention delivery in resource poor-settings because the costs associated with scaling up are minimal; dissemination online is the same if one person or 100,000 people use the program. Just as important, it provides access to important health information in a stigma-free, anonymous atmosphere. Our recent data indicate that 45% of adolescents in Mbarara, Uganda have used the Internet, 78% of whom went online at least once in the previous week. Eighty-one percent of respondents in the same survey indicated they would go to an HIV prevention web site if it existed. Based upon these data, we propose to develop a culturally appropriate, Internet-based HIV prevention program designed specifically for Ugandan adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Our specific aims are as follows: Specific Aim 1: Design a 6-hour, Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents. Content will be culturally tailored to the HIV preventive information, motivation, and behavioral skills needs of Ugandan adolescents. Specific Aim 2: Test the intervention in a randomized controlled trial (n=500) among adolescents attending grades Secondary 1-4 (similar to US high school grades 8th - 11th) at day schools in Mbarara. This project has the potential to develop low-cost and salable interventions to HIV transmission risk behaviors among adolescents in Uganda.

Conditions

• Sexual Abstinence
• Condom Use

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	CyberSenga	Internet-based HIV prevention program

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-08-01
• Primary completion: 2011-10-01
• Completion: 2011-10-01
• First posted: 2009-05-21
• Last updated: 2016-08-11
• Results posted: 2016-08-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Uganda