Novel Use of Video Logs to Deliver Educational Interventions to Black Women for Disease Prevention

INTRODUCTION: Cisgender Black women comprise 67% of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses among women in the South and are 11 times more likely to become HIV positive than White women in Texas. Optimal progress toward ending the HIV epidemic requires strategies that will interrupt transmission pathways in hotspot locations like Harris County, TX. Researchers are calling for public health interventions that can prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmission; thus, we launched the first video log (vlog)-based, pilot HIV prevention intervention. METHODS: In a prospective. randomized controlled trial of two educational intervention strategies delivered as vlogs eligible participants were randomized to either 1) an interactive gaming, education-based strategy, or 2) a storytelling, education-based strategy. Eligible participants were cisgender Black women being seen in the emergency department (ED) for a non-emergent condition who reported recent condomless heterosexual sex, were ages 18–45, and had social media access. Enrolled women completed a screening assessment, informed consent, randomization, and 10-item pre-and-post assessments with true/false statements before and after viewing a brief vlog on a tablet device to identify changes in knowledge before and after being educated on HIV/STI transmission. RESULTS: Twenty-six women were randomized to the Taboo group, an interactive gaming, education-based strategy, (14 [53.8%]), or to storytelling, an education-based strategy using non-fictional and fictional case scenarios (12 [46.2%]). Taboo participants self-identified as African-American (12 [85.7%]), Black (1 [7.1%]) or “other” (1 [7.1%]), were younger (28.6% were ≥ 30 years), single (57.1%), reported a previous STI (8 [57.1%]), and were likely employed (57.2%). Storytelling participants self-identified as African-American (7 [58.3%]) or Black (5 [41.7%]), were older (49.9% were ≥ 30 years), in a relationship but not married (50%), and half were unemployed. Highest level of education and monthly income varied. The storytelling strategy increased knowledge in two areas and the Taboo strategy increased knowledge in one. No intervention effect was identified in three areas, and a significant decrease in knowledge (P < .0001) was discerned in eight areas for Taboo and six areas for storytelling. CONCLUSION: Further research is necessary to confirm whether delivery of HIV prevention interventions with vlogs is a useful approach for HIV-vulnerable populations. Findings suggest that vlogs are a feasible approach to brief behavioral interventions during an ED visit.