Development of a mobile phone app to maintain physical activity in African American men: MobileMen

Men on the Move–Nashville was a quasi-experimental, 10-week pilot physical activity intervention. A total of 40 overweight or obese African American men ages 30 to 70 (mean age = 47) enrolled in the intervention. Participants attended 8 weekly, 90-minute small group sessions with a certified personal trainer. Each session consisted of discussions aimed to educate and motivate men to be more physically active, and an exercise component aimed to increase endurance, strength, and flexibility. Throughout each week, men used wearable activity trackers to promote self-monitoring and received informational and motivational SMS text messages. Of the 40 enrolled men, 85% completed the intervention, and 80% attended four or more small group sessions. Additionally, 70% of participants successfully used the activity tracker, but only 30% of men utilized their gym memberships. Participants benefited from both the small group discussions and activities through increasing social connection and guidance from their trainer and group members. These African American men reported being motivated to engage in physical activity through each of these technologies. Men reported that the activity trackers provided an important extension to their social network of physically active people. The intervention resulted in significant increases in men’s self-reported levels of light, moderate, vigorous, and sports-related physical activities, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and significant decreases in weight and body fat percentage with small, moderate and large effects shown. Including technology and didactic components in small group-based interventions holds promise in motivating African American men to increase their physical activity.

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Exploring the feasibility of a physical activity intervention for midlife African American men

Health Education Research ◽

10.1093/her/cyr034 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 732-738 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

S. P. Hooker ◽

B. Harmon ◽

E. L. Burroughs ◽

C. E. Rheaume ◽

S. Wilcox

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

African American ◽

Physical Activity Intervention ◽

African American Men

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A Realistic Talking Human Embodied Agent Mobile Phone Intervention to Promote HIV Medication Adherence and Retention in Care in Young HIV-Positive African American Men Who Have Sex With Men: Qualitative Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.10211 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Mark Dworkin ◽

Apurba Chakraborty ◽

Sangyoon Lee ◽

Colleen Monahan ◽

Lisa Hightow-Weidman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

African American Men ◽

Retention In Care ◽

Hiv Positive ◽

Behavioral Skills ◽

African American Msm ◽

Sex With Men ◽

Embodied Agent

BACKGROUND Avatars and embodied agents are a promising innovation for human health intervention because they may serve as a relational agent that might augment user engagement in a behavioral change intervention and motivate behavioral change such as antiretroviral adherence and retention in care. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to develop a theory-driven talking avatar-like embodied agent mobile phone intervention guided by the information-motivation-behavioral skills model to promote HIV medication adherence and retention in care in young African American men who have sex with men (MSM). METHODS We performed 5 iterative focus groups in Chicago with HIV-positive African American MSM aged 18-34 years to inform the ongoing development of a mobile phone app. Participants for the focus groups were recruited from 4 University of Illinois at Chicago Community Outreach Intervention Project sites located in different high HIV incidence areas of the city and the University of Illinois at Chicago HIV clinic using fliers and word of mouth. The focus group data analysis included developing an ongoing list of priorities for app changes and discussion between two of the investigators based on the project timeline, resources, and to what extent they served the app’s objectives. RESULTS In this study, 16 men participated, including 3 who participated in two groups. The acceptability for an embodied agent app was universal in all 5 focus groups. The app included the embodied agent response to questions and antiretroviral regimen information, adherence tracking, CD4 count and viral load tracking, motivational spoken messages, and customizability. Concerns that were identified and responded to in the development process included privacy, stigma, avoiding the harsh or commanding tone of voice, avoiding negative motivational statements, and making reminder functions for a variety of health care interactions. CONCLUSIONS An avatar-like embodied agent mHealth approach was acceptable to young HIV-positive African American MSM. Its relational nature may make it an effective method of informing, motivating, and promoting health behavioral skills. Furthermore, the app’s ease of access, stigma-free environment, and audiovisual format may help overcome some adherence barriers reported in this population.

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