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Reliability and Validity of Daily Self-Monitoring by Smartphone Application for Health-Related Quality-of-Life, Antiretroviral Adherence, Substance Use, and Sexual Behaviors Among People Living with HIV

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Abstract

This paper examines inter-method reliability and validity of daily self-reports by smartphone application compared to 14-day recall web-surveys repeated over 6 weeks with people living with HIV (PLH). A participatory sensing framework guided participant-centered design prioritizing external validity of methods for potential applications in both research and self-management interventions. Inter-method reliability correlations were consistent with prior research for physical and mental health quality-of-life (r = 0.26–0.61), antiretroviral adherence (r = 0.70–0.73), and substance use (r = 0.65–0.92) but not for detailed sexual encounter surveys (r = 0.15–0.61). Concordant and discordant pairwise comparisons show potential trends in reporting biases, for example, lower recall reports of unprotected sex or alcohol use, and rounding up errors for frequent events. Event-based reporting likely compensated for modest response rates to daily time-based prompts, particularly for sexual and drug use behaviors that may not occur daily. Recommendations are discussed for future continuous assessment designs and analyses.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment (CHIPTS) NIMH Grant MH58107; and also by the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Grant 5P30AI028697; and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through UCLA CSTI Grant UL1TR000124. Comulada’s time was also supported by NIMH Grant K01MH089270. Swendeman’s time also supported by a career development Grant from the William T. Grant Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Dallas Swendeman, W. Scott Comulada & Maya Lazar

  2. Department of Computer Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Nithya Ramanathan

  3. Department of Computer Sciences, Cornell Tech, New York, NY, USA

    Deborah Estrin

  4. Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, & Treatment Services (CHIPTS), UCLA, 10920 Wilshire Blvd. Suite. 350, Los Angeles, California, 90024, USA

    Dallas Swendeman

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  1. Dallas Swendeman
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  2. W. Scott Comulada
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  4. Maya Lazar
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Correspondence to Dallas Swendeman.

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Swendeman, D., Comulada, W.S., Ramanathan, N. et al. Reliability and Validity of Daily Self-Monitoring by Smartphone Application for Health-Related Quality-of-Life, Antiretroviral Adherence, Substance Use, and Sexual Behaviors Among People Living with HIV. AIDS Behav 19, 330–340 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0923-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0923-8

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