Abstract
BackgroundAdvances in the development of information and communication technologies have facilitated social interrelationships, but also sexual contacts without appropriate preventive measures. In this paper, we will focus on situations in which people use applications to meet sexual partners nearby, which could increase their chance of exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STI). How can we encourage users to adopt preventive measures without violating their privacy or infringing on the character of the application?MethodsTo achieve the goal of preventing STI, we have used the design and creation methodology and have developed a prototype software package. This prototype follows the RESTful services principles and has two parts: an Android OS application with emphasis on ubiquitous computing and designed according to General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (GRASP), and a server with a web page. To choose the preventive messages, we performed a test in 17 men who have sex with men (MSM).ResultsOur software sends preventive notifications to users when it detects situations such as the activation of particular applications on their smartphones, or their proximity to areas with a high probability of intercourse (hot zones). The underlying idea is the same as that for warning messages on cigarette packets, since users read the message just when they are going to smoke. The messages used have been selected from a list that has been rated by the users themselves. The most popular message is “Enjoy sex and enjoy life. Do not expose yourself to HIV”. The user is unaware of the software, which runs in the background.ConclusionsUbiquitous computing may be useful for alerting users with preventive and educational messages. The proposed application is non-intrusive because: 1) the users themselves decide to install it and, therefore, users’ privacy rights are preserved; 2) it sends a message that helps users think about taking appropriate preventive measures; and 3) it works in the background without interfering with users unless a trigger situation is detected. Thus, this type of application could become an important tool in the complex task of STI prevention.
Highlights
Advances in the development of information and communication technologies have facilitated social interrelationships, and sexual contacts without appropriate preventive measures
Results and discussion we will discuss the results, showing how users interact with the software and afterwards, in the Conclusions section, we will draw several conclusions regarding how ubiquitous computing can be used as a preventive tool
The aim of this research was to investigate how ubiquitous computing could be useful in preventive health
Summary
Advances in the development of information and communication technologies have facilitated social interrelationships, and sexual contacts without appropriate preventive measures. There has been a clear increase in the number of outbreaks of infectious diseases that had previously been categorized as being under control [1,2]. Many people, especially young people, perceive these diseases as not being very risky or, as having been eradicated. Within these diseases Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), are especially important. The prolific development of information and communication technologies in recent years, including social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, has increased the rate of interrelations within certain
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