Session: Building Acceptable and Sustainable Mhealth Interventions to Meet the Needs of Diverse at-Risk Populations (Society for Prevention Research 27th Annual Meeting)

Session Introduction: Recent advances in real-time data collection, wearable biosensors, and adaptive technologies have propelled mobile health (mHealth) interventions to the forefront of prevention science. Despite the growing evidence of efficacy for mHealth interventions in a number of substantive areas, we know relatively little about the likely uptake, strategies for engagement, or potential for sustainability of such approaches. This symposium highlights three papers that specifically address these gaps.

The first paper, “Enhancing Psychological Resilience in Military Reservists and First-Responders Using Mobile Technologies for Paced Breathing and Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback,” combines repeated biological assessments with dashboard technology to provide personalized feedback via mobile app to individuals at increased risk for heightened reactivity to stress. Despite preliminary evidence of efficacy, enhancing participant uptake and engagement may be necessary before moving towards scale up.

The second paper, “Testing an mHealth Intervention for Young African American Women Who Use Substances and are at Risk for HIV/STIs: Preliminary Usability, Acceptability and Satisfaction,” assesses participant acceptability of a mobile app-delivered (via tablet) intervention relative to the evidence-based in-person delivery. High acceptability and usability ratings suggest the mHealth approach may be a viable way to increase reach in a population that can be challenging to identify and engage.

The third paper, “Development and Implementation of Innovative, Tailored Sexual Assault Prevention Interventions: An mHealth Example from the US Air Force,” presents an innovative approach for adapting evidence-based curricula to allow for individualized screening and tailored intervention delivery, all while operating in a large classroom-based setting. This paper highlights the value of engaging the target audience in program development and planning for scale up and sustainability from the beginning.

This symposium addresses both the mHealth special conference theme and the general theme focused on intervention development and evaluation. All three papers present innovative solutions to commonly encountered implementation barriers that cannot be overcome with less flexible intervention approaches. It is expected the diversity of mHealth approaches and behavioral outcomes represented within this symposium will be of interest to SPR attendees.