Likelihood of Leveraging Augmented Reality Technology to Promote HIV Prevention and Treatment Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Cameroon: Cross-Sectional Survey

TL;DR

A survey in Cameroon found that most adolescent girls and young women are likely to use augmented reality for HIV prevention and treatment, despite limited prior exposure to the technology.

Contribution

This study is the first to assess the potential acceptance of AR-based HIV interventions among adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Findings

72% of participants were likely to use AR to visualize HIV transmission.

Higher education and prior health app use were associated with greater likelihood of AR adoption for HIV prevention.

Over half of participants were extremely likely to use AR for learning correct condom use and HIV self-testing.

Abstract

Adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represent 4 out of every 5 newly diagnosed HIV cases among adolescent girls and young women globally. Leveraging augmented reality (AR) technology for HIV prevention and treatment holds significant potential among young people. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the acceptance of AR by adolescent girls and young women in SSA.

This study aimed to assess the likelihood of adolescent girls and young women in Cameroon using AR for HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. The study findings will lay the groundwork for developing AR-based interventions to prevent and treat HIV in Cameroon and beyond.

This was a cross-sectional survey conducted in Yaounde, Cameroon, in which 637 adolescent girls and young women were recruited using a combination of multistage cluster and snowball sampling techniques. We used an electronic survey to collect data on participants’ knowledge, prior use of AR technology, and likelihood of using AR technology for HIV prevention and treatment, and associated factors. Multivariate ordinal regressions were used to analyze the factors associated with the likelihood of adolescent girls and young women using AR to prevent HIV.

The study showed that 84% (536/637) of adolescent girls and young women had never heard of AR before this study, and only 8% (49/637) had prior experience using AR. Participants’ median age was 22 (IQR 21‐24) years, with the majority (362/637, 56.8%) aged between 21 and 25 years. Despite the low usage rate of AR among participants, there was a high likelihood of using AR to promote HIV prevention and treatment. Specifically, 72% (459/637) of participants reported that they were likely to use AR to visualize the HIV transmission process, while 73% (465/637) and 74% (471/637) reported the likelihood of using AR to learn about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and how HIV medication lowers HIV viral load, respectively. More importantly, 54% (342/637) and 50% (319/637) of participants reported that they were extremely likely to use AR to learn the correct way of using condom and self-testing for HIV, respectively. The high likelihood of using AR to prevent and treat HIV was associated with a higher education level (P=.01), having ever tested for HIV (P=.03), and a history of previously using health apps or searching for health information on their phones (P<.001).

The likelihood of using AR technology to promote HIV prevention and treatment is high among adolescent girls and young women in Cameroon. Future research should focus on exploring the preferred features of AR-based digital health interventions and consider methods of implementing them in the context of Cameroon or SSA.