Mobile Technologies for Community Health

Partner(s): Dr. James Phillips Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health Released: TBA In development.

CCNMTL is partnering with the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health of the Mailman School of Public Health to develop, test, and disseminate a health information management system relying on low-cost cellular phone technology. This system, being developed in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, CCNMTL, and the Grameen Foundation, will be used to improve the timeliness, accuracy, and utility of information required by front-line health workers in remote communities of Ghana. The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The goal of the project is to test whether the adaptation of low-cost mobile phone-based health technology can address major gaps in knowledge and information-sharing among health care workers at the community and district levels, and by doing so, significantly improve health outcomes in impoverished, rural communities in Ghana.

Multimedia WORTH

Partner(s): Nabila El-Bassel Social Intervention Group, School of Social Work Access: Private Released: October 2009 VIEW PROJECT

Multimedia WORTH (Women On The Road To Health) is the web-based version of an HIV prevention program that teaches communication and negotiation skills, delivers health information, and facilitates empowerment and feelings of self worth to at-risk women in the criminal justice system. CCNMTL is partnering with the Social Intervention Group at the Columbia School of Social Work to develop and test the WORTH tool to support health facilitators in delivering both group and individual intervention sessions. Faculty partner Nabila El-Bassel will conduct a randomized control trial funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) to test the efficacy of Multimedia WORTH in increasing condom use, decreasing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reducing substance use among 432 drug involved female offenders in an Alternative-to-Incarceration (ATI) program in New York City.

Facilitators and participants using Multimedia WORTH will supplement face-to-face discussion with the use of laptop computers during their weekly group meetings. Key improvements over the traditional intervention model include a visual "road map" for facilitators and participants, interactive activities for group and independent use, customized journals for participants, and supervision reports for the study team. Once completed, elements of the multimedia environment will be used to train Columbia social work students who are preparing for careers in the criminal justice system.

Masivukeni

Partner(s): Robert Remien Department of Psychiatry Access: Private Released: March 2009 VIEW PROJECT

CCNMTL and Dr. Robert Remien, a research scientist at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies and associate professor of clinical psychology (in psychiatry), received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to create and pilot Masivukeni, a multimedia version of an HIV-treatment adherence program, SMART Couples, that has been effective in New York City HIV care clinics. The grant allows the program to extend its reach to South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world. Originally named SMART +SA, Masivukeni also aims to enrich Columbia courses at the Mailman School of Public Health and other programs focused on health disparities.

Masivukeni, which loosely translates to "let's wake up" in Xhosa, is a computer-assisted program that supports counselors at health clinics in Cape Town, South Africa in assisting HIV-positive adults to adhere to their antiretroviral drug regimens through a combination of education and support. The program uses enhanced text, imagery, animations, audio, and video to teach the basics of how HIV and antiretrovirals affect health, and to build problem solving and social support skills that patients can use to overcome barriers to treatment adherence. Research partners and community stakeholders from Cape Town provided guidance on Masivukeni's design, language, and skill-building activities to ensure that the program incorporated culturally relevant themes. A central component of Masivukeni is the Island Activity, an interactive tool that depicts the improvement or decline of a patient's health using an animation of a person on an island surrounded by rising or lowering water.

In March 2009, a team from CCNMTL and the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies trained two adherence counselors at an HIV clinic in Cape Town to deliver Masivukeni to 30 patients who are experiencing challenges adhering to their HIV treatment. Based on results from this pilot project, CCNMTL and the HIV Center will research and explore ways to implement a broader study of Masivukeni.

Connect

Partner(s): Susan Witte School of Social Work Access: Private Released: June 2008 VIEW PROJECT

Connect is a couples-level intervention for heterosexual couples at risk for HIV/STIs developed by the Social Intervention Group at the School of Social Work. The intervention has been proven to reduce risky behaviors in committed heterosexual couples, the fastest growing HIV-infected group in the US. Principal Investigator Susan Witte and CCNMTL have received funding from the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) to test a multimedia version of the intervention against the paper version at 80 community-based organizations to measure levels of adoption of the intervention in its multimedia form. Multimedia Connect represents a significant step forward in effective dissemination, providing novice facilitators with a 'road map' as they go through the intervention with clients. In addition to use in clinical settings, components of Multimedia Connect are already in use in classrooms at the Columbia School of Social Work.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has also provided funding to develop multimedia training tools to translate the existing Connect intervention materials for national dissemination. CCNMTL and Witte have packaged the intervention manual and all training materials, including 22 original video assets that model communication techniques and provide information about STIs. The materials will be used both to train facilitators and for use with intervention participants.

Related links:
Download the informational page (PDF)
Watch Multimedia Connect at NME 2008
Visit the Multimedia Connect website

Collateral Consequences Calculator

Partner(s): Conrad Johnson School of Law Released: TBA In development.

Developed in partnership with Columbia Law School professor Conrad Johnson, the Collateral Consequences Calculator is a web-based "calculator" that allows legal practitioners to quickly and easily compare the collateral consequences of criminal charges associated with sections of the New York State Penal Law. The Collateral Consequences Calculator serves multiple communities: faculty can build case studies around it, lawyers can better counsel their clients, judges can assure appropriate sentencing, and public policy researchers can use it as a lens through which to examine the matrix of the New York State legal system. Judge Judith Kaye, former Chief Justice of New York State, has supported the development of this tool, which she sees as a valuable social justice initiative.

Related links:
Download the informational page (PDF)