# Improving the HIV Care Continuum for Youth in the Deep South through Mobile Health Technology

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA · 2022 · $143,306

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Youth living with HIV (YLHIV) display elevated risk at every point of the Care Continuum. They face barriers
to becoming engaged and retained in HIV care, show poor medication adherence, and thus often fail to achieve
viral suppression. HIV-positive youth in the Deep South have particularly poor outcomes. South Carolina is
one of nine states identified as “key drivers” of the US HIV epidemic, and HIV rates for youth in South Carolina
have risen rapidly in recent years (68% increase in past 15 years). Tailored interventions are urgently needed to
improve outcomes for this population. One promising approach is to reach YLHIV via mobile Health
(mHealth) technology, yet limited efforts have sought to tailor mHealth interventions to the needs of YLHIV in
the Deep South. Thus the scientific objective of this K01 is to identify barriers experienced by YLHIV in South
Carolina and then use findings to develop and pilot-test an mHealth intervention designed to increase
engagement/retention in care and ART adherence. The career development objective of this K01 is to obtain
the mentoring and training needed for a successful, high impact career investigating innovative ways to reduce
HIV disparities among youth in the Southern US. This application is supported by a rigorous, highly productive
research environment at the University of South Carolina and by a distinguished team of mentors. Collectively,
mentors have expertise in psychological, behavioral, and socio-cultural aspects of HIV in the Deep South; the
development of culturally-tailored HIV interventions; the use of mHealth to improve outcomes for YLHIV;
factors related to a successful HIV Care Continuum; and rigorous intervention methodologies to test and
enhance psychosocial and behavioral health interventions. Training experiences will provide expertise in
formative assessment for intervention development; application of mHealth technologies to the HIV Care
Continuum; intervention adaptation and development; theater testing methodology; innovative trial designs
for mHealth interventions; and statistical/analytic skills necessary to assess intervention fidelity, acceptability,
efficacy, and mechanisms of action. Training progression is linked to three specific research aims. In Aim 1, we
will examine barriers to engagement/ retention in care and medication adherence for YLHIV in South Carolina.
We will then use these findings to develop a tailored mHealth intervention to improve Care Continuum
outcomes for YLHIV in the Deep South (Aim 2) by integrating several promising mHealth strategies. In Aim 3,
we will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and usability of the mHealth intervention with a six-month pilot
trial with 40 YLHIV in South Carolina. The project is relevant to NIMH priorities as it will bring together key
stakeholders including patients, providers, and researchers to produce a developmentally and culturally
tailored behavioral health intervention that can opt...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10409655
- **Project number:** 5K01MH118073-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Sayward Elizabeth Harrison
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $143,306
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-10 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10409655

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10409655, Improving the HIV Care Continuum for Youth in the Deep South through Mobile Health Technology (5K01MH118073-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10409655. Licensed CC0.

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