Exploring mobility data for enhancing HIV care engagement in Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx individuals: a longitudinal observational study protocol

Maryam Hassani, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA.
Cristina De Haro, University of California Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business, Irvine, California, USA.
Lidia Flores, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA.
Mohamed Emish, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA.
Seungjun Kim, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA.
Zeyad Kelani, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA.
Dominic Arjuna Ugarte, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California Irvine, Orange, California, USA.
Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Florida State University College of Nursing, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
Amanda Castel, Department of Epidemiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Xiaoming Li, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Katherine P. Theall, Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Sean Young, University of California Irvine, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Irvine, California, USA syoung5@hs.uci.edu.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

12-14-2023

Journal

BMJ open

Volume

13

Issue

12

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079900

Keywords

HIV & AIDS; chronic disease; health informatics; infectious disease/HIV; public health

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Increasing engagement in HIV care among people living with HIV, especially those from Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx communities, is an urgent need. Mobility data that measure individuals' movements over time in combination with sociostructural data (eg, crime, census) can potentially identify barriers and facilitators to HIV care engagement and can enhance public health surveillance and inform interventions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The proposed work is a longitudinal observational cohort study aiming to enrol 400 Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx individuals living with HIV in areas of the USA with high prevalence rates of HIV. Each participant will be asked to share at least 14 consecutive days of mobility data per month through the study app for 1 year and complete surveys at five time points (baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months). The study app will collect Global Positioning System (GPS) data. These GPS data will be merged with other data sets containing information related to HIV care facilities, other healthcare, business and service locations, and sociostructural data. Machine learning and deep learning models will be used for data analysis to identify contextual predictors of HIV care engagement. The study includes interviews with stakeholders to evaluate the implementation and ethical concerns of using mobility data to increase engagement in HIV care. We seek to study the relationship between mobility patterns and HIV care engagement. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of California, Irvine (#20205923). Collected data will be deidentified and securely stored. Dissemination of findings will be done through presentations, posters and research papers while collaborating with other research teams.

Department

Epidemiology

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