Leveraging Smartphone Mobility Data to Understand HIV Risk Among Rural South African Young Adults: Feasibility Study
This study demonstrates that the use of smartphone-based GPS technology is feasible among young adults in a rural South African setting. Although only 28.4% (95.3/336) of expected weekly location data were collected, the study offers insights into engagement strategies that can be used to enhance location data collection in similar contexts. Continuous troubleshooting identified challenges and informed solutions to data collection gaps. Reverse billing system and gamification resulted in significant increases in location data received. These findings underscore the potential of integrating mobile health tools into health systems to better support high-risk mobile populations.
Authors
- Till Bärnighausen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4182-4212)
- Adrian Dobra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7793-2197)
- Maxime Inghels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9340-2054)
- Khai Hoan Tram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1129-7674)
- Fiona Walsh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2282-1005)
- Frank Tanser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9797-0000)
- Thulile Mathenjwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2436-9972)
- Elphas Okango
- Hae‐Young Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5124-1555)
- Diego F. Cuadros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7060-4203)
Institutions
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- University of Washington (US)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- Africa Health Research Institute (ZA)
- Centre Hospitalier National Universitaire de Fann (SN)
- University of Lincoln (GB)
- New York University (US)
- University of Cincinnati (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- JMIR mhealth and uhealth
- Published
- 2025-06-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2196/67519
- Primary Topic
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00