Developing an app-based self-management program for people living with HIV: a randomized controlled pilot study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

People living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) in Korea demonstrate insufficient self-management behaviors. Especially during pandemics such as COVID-19, technology-based self-management programs are needed to overcome time and space limitations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a self-management program using a mobile app (Health Manager) on self-management outcomes among PLWH in Korea. A randomized controlled pilot trial was performed and participants were enrolled in the infectious outpatient clinic of a single hospital. The intervention group used the mobile app for 4 weeks, while the control group received self-management education materials in a portable document format. The online self-report questionnaire assessed primary outcomes including self-efficacy for self-management, self-management behaviors, and medication adherence, and secondary outcomes including perceived health status, depression, and perceived stigma. Thirty-three participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 17) or the control group (n = 16). In the intention-to-treat analysis, self-efficacy for self-management and self-management behaviors increased, while perceived stigma decreased. The app-based self-management program could be considered a helpful strategy to improve self-management outcomes among PLWH and reduce their perceived stigma during the pandemic. Further studies with larger samples and longer follow-ups are needed.Trial registration: Clinical Research Information Service, KCT0004696 [04/02/2020].

Effectiveness of online HIV treatment services in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…The intervention group used the mobile app for 4 weeks, and the control group received self‐management education materials in a portable document format. The results showed that the app‐based self‐management program was considered a helpful strategy to improve self‐management outcomes among PLHIV and reduce perceived stigma during the pandemic in 33 participants (intervention: n = 17 vs. control: n = 16) [ 19 ].…”

Undergraduates’ Negative Emotion and Academic Procrastination During COVID-19: Life Autonomy as a Mediator and Sense of School Belonging as a Moderator

“…49 For instance, owing to the lockdown imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, university students had more discretionary time at their disposal, but their mental development was not yet adequately mature to develop autonomous habits. 50 They would manifest lower self-management skills in such an environment, 51 generating inertia in learning, which in turn leads to academic procrastination. 52 This finding is also confirmed in a study by Wang Shurui 53 which showed that university students' self-control negatively predicted academic procrastination.…”