Piloting an online telecoaching community-based exercise intervention with adults living with HIV: protocol for a...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Exercise Science
• HIV Medicine

Background:

• Adults living with HIV often experience disability and reduced physical activity.
• Community-based exercise (CBE) shows promise for improving health outcomes.
• Online interventions offer accessible solutions for managing chronic conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the implementation of an online telecoaching CBE intervention for adults living with HIV.
• To assess the intervention's impact on disability, physical activity, and health.
• To explore participant and stakeholder experiences with the online CBE program.

Main Methods:

• Prospective longitudinal mixed-methods study with two phases (intervention and follow-up).
• Included ~30 adults living with HIV participating in thrice-weekly online exercises, biweekly personal training, and monthly educational sessions.
• Assessed physical fitness, disability, contextual factors, and implementation factors using quantitative and qualitative methods.

Main Results:

• Data collection ongoing; results to be disseminated upon study completion.
• Analysis will include segmented regression for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative interviews.
• Focus on changes in disability, physical activity, fitness, and implementation factors.

Conclusions:

• The study protocol is approved and registered (NCT05006391).
• Findings will be shared via presentations and open-access publications.
• This research aims to inform the development of effective online exercise interventions for the HIV-positive population.