Marta Mulawa, assistant professor, received an award from the Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program (LRP) through the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). This LRP award will allow her to build on her NIH-funded K01 research to deepen our understanding of the extent to which user engagement impacts the effects of mobile health (mHealth) interventions on HIV care outcomes including HIV treatment adherence. 

Abstract

The proposed Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program (LRP) Renewal Award will support Mulawa in her training and research focused on mHealth interventions to reduce health disparities among adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. Improving adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among adolescents living with HIV is essential to reducing these important disparities. mHealth interventions, those that use mobile technology (e.g., smartphones apps) to transmit health information and provide social support, hold promise as an effective way to improve antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. HealthMpowerment is a theory-based mHealth intervention that was developed in the U.S., by Hightow-Weidman (K01 Primary Mentor and proposed LRP Mentor) to engage youth and reduce HIV-related risk. With funding from a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01 MH118072), Mulawa is currently leading a research study designed to customize and pilot test HealthMpowerment to promote ART adherence among adolescents living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa. This study is done in collaboration with the University of Cape Town (UCT) and leverages the infrastructure of a NIH-funded longitudinal study of adolescents with perinatally-acquired HIV in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The K01 study includes secondary data analysis, formative research, and a pilot RCT with 50 adolescents living with HIV to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and to explore preliminary effects on ART adherence and social support. The proposed LRP research study will build on this K01 research to deepen our understanding of the extent to which user engagement impacts the effects of mHealth interventions on HIV care outcomes including ART adherence. To support her training, Mulawa will be mentored by Lisa Hightow-Weidman, the Primary Mentor of her K01 and a leader in the field for advancing research on youth, technology, and HIV.