Development, acceptance, and use patterns of a computer-based education and social support system for people living with AIDS/HIV infection

A computer-based support system has been developed to provide information, referrals, decision support, and social support to people living with AIDS/HIV infection. CHESS (the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System) uses personal computers placed in users' homes and linked together via modem through a central “host” computer. Color, graphics, and simple user prompts make the system easy to use. HIV-positive subjects (96 male, 20 female) were given CHESS computers to use in their homes for 3 to 6 months. Subjects used CHESS services a total of 15,966 times for over 4,600 hr of use, an average of about one use per subject per day throughout the study. Each subject used CHESS an average of over 39 hr. The system was heavily used by all segments of the study population. Women and minorities used the system at least as frequently as their male and Caucasian counterparts. In fact, Caucasian and minority women used some parts of the system significantly more than other subjects. Subjects rated CHESS very positively in terms of usefulness and ease of use. Thus, CHESS appears to be a heavily used and highly accepted means of providing information and support to HIV-infected individuals.