Background: Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) are challenged to remain adherent and engaged in HIV care. Technology-enabled interventions can be used to optimize healthcare delivery to adolescents. The largest proportion of ALHIV resides in sub-Saharan Africa. This review synthesized the evidence for the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of technology-enabled health interventions for ALHIV in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Methods: Eight electronic databases (Ebscohost, CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS, Science Direct, and Sabinet) and Google Scholar were searched to identify studies in LMIC published from 2010 to 2022. Quantitative and qualitative studies reporting on technology-enabled health interventions for predominantly adolescents (10–19 years) were included. The review was performed, and findings were reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Protocols. The review was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42022336330. Results: There is weak evidence that technology-enabled health interventions for ALHIV in LMIC improve treatment outcomes. However, most interventions appear to be acceptable and feasible. Conclusion: There is a need to ensure that technology-enabled interventions have a strong theoretical base. Larger studies with rigorous evaluation designs are needed to determine the effects of these interventions on the health outcomes of ALHIV in LMIC.
Adolescents living with chronic conditions such as HIV (ALHIV) are challenged to remain adherent and engaged in HIV care. Technology offers a promising platform to deliver behaviour-change interventions to adolescents. The largest proportion of ALHIV resides in sub-Saharan Africa; yet little is known about the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of technology-enabled interventions to deliver and support health care to ALHIV in resource-constraint settings. This study aims to explore the literature and synthesise the evidence for the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of technology-enabled health interventions for ALHIV in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Eight electronic databases (Ebscohost, CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS, Science Direct, and Sabinet) and Google Scholar will be searched to identify technology-enabled health interventions for ALHIV in LMIC published from 2010–2022. Quantitative and qualitative studies reporting on technology-enabled health interventions for predominantly adolescents (10–19 years) will be included. The review will be performed, and findings reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Protocols. A two-stage process of screening titles and abstracts, and then full-text, will be performed independently by two reviewers. The quality of the included studies will be assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists, and the Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Interventions tool will be used to assess the risk of bias. The review will involve publications already in the public domain; therefore, ethics approval is not required. The results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal publication and/or conference proceedings.
PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022336330.
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