Effect of Participative Web-Based Educational Modules on HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Competency Among Medical Students: Single-Arm Interventional Study

Abstract

Background: The number of new HIV diagnoses in the United States continues to slowly decline; yet, transgender women and men who have sex with men remain disproportionately affected. Key to improving the quality of prevention services are providers who are comfortable broaching the subjects of sexual health and HIV prevention with people across the spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations. Preservice training is a critical point to establish HIV prevention and sexual health education practices before providers’ practice habits are established. Objective: The study aimed to develop participative web-based educational modules and test their impact on HIV prevention knowledge and awareness in future providers. Methods: Sexual health providers at an academic hospital, research clinicians, community engagement professionals, and New York City community members were consulted to develop 7 web-based educational modules, which were then piloted among medical students. We assessed knowledge of HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention and comfort assessing the prevention needs of various patients via web-based questionnaires administered before and after our educational intervention. We conducted exploratory factor analysis of the items in the questionnaire. Results: Pre- and postmodule surveys were completed by 125 students and 89 students, respectively, from all 4 years of training. Before the intervention, the majority of students had heard of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (122/123, 99.2%) and postexposure prophylaxis (114/123, 92.7%). Before the training, 30.9% (38/123) of the students agreed that they could confidently identify a patient who is a candidate for pre-exposure prophylaxis or postexposure prophylaxis; this increased to 91% (81/89) after the intervention. Conclusions: Our findings highlight a need for increased HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention training in medical school curricula to enable future providers to identify and care for diverse at-risk populations. Participative web-based modules offer an effective way to teach these concepts.