Trial reportAIDS and behavior2021
Epic Allies: A Gamified Mobile App to Improve Engagement in HIV Care and Antiretroviral Adherence among Young Men Who have Sex with Men.
Trial report in AIDS and behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02782130 (Epic Allies), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Epic Allies: A Gaming Mobile Phone Application to Improve Engagement in Care, Antiretroviral Uptake, and Adherence Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men (YMSM) and Trans Women Who Have Sex With Men
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions to promote medication adherence among children, adolescents, and young adults with medical conditions.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The role of digital tools in enhancing antiretroviral therapy adherence among adolescents and young adults with HIV: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- User Engagement With mHealth Interventions to Promote Treatment Adherence and Self-Management in People With Chronic Health Conditions: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Interventions for Young Men Who Have Sex With Men and Young Transgender Women Living with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- mHealth-Based Gamification Interventions Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in the HIV Prevention and Care Continuum: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Improving Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Adherence in People at Risk for HIV: Secondary Analysis of a Digital Health Intervention to Enhance User Engagement.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Trial
- A Web-Based Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Intervention (Thrive With Me) in a Community-Recruited Sample of Sexual Minority Men Living With HIV: Results of a Randomized Controlled Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of an mHealth Intervention to Improve PrEP Adherence Among Young Sexual Minority Men.AIDS and behavior · 2024Trial
- Uptake of an App-Based Case Management Service for HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Process Evaluation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Article
- Effect of a combined education program (game + health education) on antiretroviral treatment adherence among newly diagnosed youth with HIV: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Preliminary evaluation of a gamified smartphone intervention (O2O-PEP) for enhancing HIV post-exposure prophylaxis uptake in men who have sex with men: pilot feasibility study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Enhancing HIV Cognitive Abilities and Self-Management Through Information Technology-Assisted Interventions: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Using a mobile application for antiretroviral therapy adherence in people living with HIV: A longitudinal pilot study.Southern African journal of HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Paradata: Measuring Engagement in Digital HIV Interventions for Sexual and Gender Minorities.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2023Review
- Virtual avatars as a new tool for human immunodeficiency virus prevention among men who have sex with men: a narrative review.mHealth · 2023Review
- Patterns of engagement in digital mental health intervention for LGBTQ+ youth: a latent profile analysis.Frontiers in digital health · 2023Article
- Status-Neutral Interventions to Support Health Equity for Black Sexual Minority Men.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2022Review
- Preferences for a Game-Based SMS Adherence Intervention Among Young People Living with HIV in Ghana: A Qualitative Study.AIDS and behavior · 2022Article
- User Experience and Usability of Neumorphism and Gamification User Interface Designs in an HIV Self-Test Referral Program for Men Who Have Sex With Men: Prospective Open-Label Parallel-Group Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR serious games · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
HIV incidence among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) is disproportionally high. Youth living with HIV demonstrate low rates of sustained virologic suppression (VS). Epic Allies, a theory-based behavioral intervention mobile app, utilizes self-management tools, gamification, and social support to improve engagement in care and antiretroviral adherence among YMSM living with HIV. A two-arm individually randomized-controlled trial enrolled 146 participants aged 16 to 24 years old to test the efficacy of Epic Allies to achieve VS. Both study arms showed improved VS at 26-weeks (62.9% intervention; 73.5% control; ARR = 0.93 (95% CI 0.73, 1.18)) and antiretroviral adherence; intervention effects were amplified in regular app users. Issues with recruitment and app usage metrics limit the ability to definitively say that the app was effective in causing behavior changes resulting in improved health outcomes. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02782130).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.