Integrating Qualitative Methods to Inform Future Designs and Create a Replicable, Mixed-methods Model for Evaluating Technology-based Health Interventions

This pilot project will integrate a qualitative interview process into the NIDA funded study of a video-based intervention designed to increase HIV testing among emergency department patients. The interview data will enable us to better understand why participants have positive, negative, or neutral responses to a given video. Although video has been used successfully in HIV prevention interventions, much remains unknown about how design considerations can influence the effectiveness of video content. Thus, a mixed methods design will enable a much deeper examination of participant response to our intervention.

A chief goal of this research is to establish a mixed-method design that is both feasible to implement and highly replicable in challenging clinical environments, including high volume emergency department settings. Detailed interviews with intervention participants can help researchers and clinicians better understand how video content can be optimized for greatest effectiveness among those most in-need. Interview data and mixed-methods analyses can also be used to inform future projects in working healthcare settings across the United States.

This research is designed not only to use computer-based video interventions to deliver important health behavior messages to more people, but to develop a fine-grained understanding of how video content can be continually refined for greater effectiveness.