PMID- 30681964
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20200930
IS  - 1929-0748 (Print)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Electronic)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Linking)
VI  - 8
IP  - 1
DP  - 2019 Jan 25
TI  - Developing a Mobile App (LYNX) to Support Linkage to HIV/Sexually Transmitted 
      Infection Testing and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Young Men Who Have Sex With 
      Men: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.
PG  - e10659
LID - 10.2196/10659 [doi]
LID - e10659
AB  - BACKGROUND: Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in the United States have 
      among the highest incidence of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) and 
      the lowest uptake of HIV and STI testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). 
      Nearly universal mobile phone ownership among youth provides an opportunity to 
      leverage mobile health apps to increase HIV/STI testing and PrEP uptake among 
      YMSM. OBJECTIVE: The goals of this project are to develop and refine LYNX, a 
      novel mobile app to support linkage to HIV/STIs testing and PrEP services among 
      YMSM in the United States, and to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of 
      LYNX in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). METHODS: This research 
      protocol will be conducted in 3 phases: an iterative development phase with a 
      series of 3 focus groups among 20 YMSM to refine the LYNX app; an open technical 
      pilot among 15 YMSM to optimize usability of the app; and then a 6-month pilot 
      RCT among 60 HIV-uninfected YMSM at risk for HIV acquisition. Developed using the 
      Information, Motivation, and Behavioral skills theoretical model, the LYNX app 
      includes an electronic diary to track sexual behaviors (information), a 
      personalized risk score to promote accurate risk perception 
      (information/motivation), testing reminders (motivation/behavioral skills), and 
      access to home-based HIV/STI testing options and geospatial-based HIV/STI testing 
      care sites (behavioral skills). Feasibility and acceptability will be assessed 
      through app analytics of usage patterns and acceptability scales administered via 
      computer-assisted self-interview at 3 and 6 months. We will also evaluate 
      preliminary efficacy by comparing the proportion of YMSM who test at least once 
      during the 6-month pilot and the proportion who successfully link to a PrEP 
      provider in the intervention versus control groups. RESULTS: Formative work is 
      currently underway. The LYNX pilot RCT will begin enrollment in October 2018, 
      with study results available in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: The LYNX app is one of the 
      first mobile apps designed to increase HIV/STI testing and PrEP uptake among 
      YMSM. As low-perceived risk is a barrier to HIV/STI testing and PrEP use among 
      youth, the personalized risk assessment and interactive sexual diary in LYNX 
      could assist YMSM in better understanding their HIV risk and providing motivation 
      to test for HIV/STIs and initiate PrEP. Coupled with community-based recruitment, 
      this novel mobile app has great potential to reach and engage YMSM not currently 
      involved in care and increase rates of HIV/STI testing and PrEP uptake in this 
      vulnerable population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03177512; 
      https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03177512 (Archived by WebCite at 
      http://www.webcitation.org/73c917wAw). INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER 
      (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/10659.
CI  - (c)Albert Liu, Kenneth Coleman, Kelly Bojan, Pedro Alonso Serrano, Temitope 
      Oyedele, Amayvis Garcia, Elizabeth Enriquez-Bruce, Patricia Emmanuel, Jeb Jones, 
      Patrick Sullivan, Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Susan Buchbinder, Hyman Scott. Originally 
      published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 
      25.01.2019.
FAU - Liu, Albert
AU  - Liu A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-0320-823X
AD  - Bridge HIV, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United 
      States.
AD  - Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, 
      CA, United States.
FAU - Coleman, Kenneth
AU  - Coleman K
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-4332-3347
AD  - Bridge HIV, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United 
      States.
FAU - Bojan, Kelly
AU  - Bojan K
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2967-7632
AD  - John H Stroger Jr Hospital, Chicago, IL, United States.
AD  - The Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
FAU - Serrano, Pedro Alonso
AU  - Serrano PA
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9504-5647
AD  - John H Stroger Jr Hospital, Chicago, IL, United States.
AD  - The Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
FAU - Oyedele, Temitope
AU  - Oyedele T
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9783-6661
AD  - John H Stroger Jr Hospital, Chicago, IL, United States.
AD  - The Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
FAU - Garcia, Amayvis
AU  - Garcia A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6849-6263
AD  - Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Tampa, FL, United 
      States.
FAU - Enriquez-Bruce, Elizabeth
AU  - Enriquez-Bruce E
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-7821-2746
AD  - Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Tampa, FL, United 
      States.
FAU - Emmanuel, Patricia
AU  - Emmanuel P
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1464-6665
AD  - Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Tampa, FL, United 
      States.
FAU - Jones, Jeb
AU  - Jones J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9165-1658
AD  - Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 
      Atlanta, GA, United States.
FAU - Sullivan, Patrick
AU  - Sullivan P
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-7728-0587
AD  - Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 
      Atlanta, GA, United States.
FAU - Hightow-Weidman, Lisa
AU  - Hightow-Weidman L
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2421-923X
AD  - Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina 
      at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
FAU - Buchbinder, Susan
AU  - Buchbinder S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2404-0712
AD  - Bridge HIV, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United 
      States.
AD  - Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, 
      CA, United States.
FAU - Scott, Hyman
AU  - Scott H
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8775-7214
AD  - Bridge HIV, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United 
      States.
AD  - Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, 
      CA, United States.
LA  - eng
SI  - ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03177512
GR  - P30 MH062246/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States
GR  - T32 MH019105/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States
GR  - U19 HD089881/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20190125
PL  - Canada
TA  - JMIR Res Protoc
JT  - JMIR research protocols
JID - 101599504
PMC - PMC6367663
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - HIV testing
OT  - adolescent
OT  - men who have sex with men
OT  - mobile app
OT  - pre-exposure prophylaxis
OT  - sexually transmitted diseases
OT  - sexually transmitted infections
OT  - youth
COIS- Conflicts of Interest: AL has led studies for which Gilead Sciences has donated 
      the study drug. SB has been an investigator on studies for which Gilead Sciences 
      has donated the study drug.
EDAT- 2019/01/27 06:00
MHDA- 2019/01/27 06:01
PMCR- 2019/01/25
CRDT- 2019/01/26 06:00
PHST- 2018/03/31 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/09/13 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/07/08 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2019/01/26 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2019/01/27 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/01/27 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2019/01/25 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - v8i1e10659 [pii]
AID - 10.2196/10659 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - JMIR Res Protoc. 2019 Jan 25;8(1):e10659. doi: 10.2196/10659.