Introducing iCON: Michigan's new health services & life skills WebApp for sexual & gender minority youth. Through the support of the Herb Ritts Foundation, iCON was designed and developed by and for young gay and bi men and transgender women. The idea behind iCON is simple: many sexual and gender minority youth either don’t know what services are available to them, or worry about experiencing stigma and discrimination if they attempt to use services. iCON solves this problem by 1) providing an interactive database of over 375 LGBT-welcoming services that can be searched and tailored to a user’s individual needs, and 2) offering tailored life-skill-building educational modules. This presentation will discuss successful strategies for community-based development in e-health research and an innovative intervention for reducing structural barriers to HIV prevention.

1. iCON:
Connecting sexual and gender
minority youth with health services
Michele Demers
Center for Sexuality & Health Disparities
(SexLab), University of Michigan

2. Co-Directors
• Dr. Jose Bauermeister
• Dr. Rob Stephenson
Graduate Research Assistants
• Daniel Connochie
• Peter Ceglarek
YAB Members & Research Assistants
• Matt Rodriguez
• Zach Crutchfield
• Gage Gillard
Collaborators
• MFierce YAB members
• Center for Health Communications Research
The Team

3. • Sexual & gender minority youth are
disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic &
carry large burden of new infections
• Structural barriers make it difficult for sexual and
gender minority youth to access HIV prevention &
health services
• No centralized database of LGBTQ-welcoming
health and social services in SE Michigan
The Challenges

4. • Address the significant gap in access to
services for sexual and gender minority youth
• Create a web-based application (WebApp) that
includes:
1) For everyone: Directory of LGBTQ-welcoming
health & social services in Southeast Michigan
2) For sexual & gender minority youth: Life skill
educational modules & goal-setting
The Goals

5. • December 2014
– Funding acquired
– Team formed
• January – April 2015
– Survey design
– Value Proposition Canvas activity
– YAB consultations
• April – August 2015
– Resource guide development
– Content writing
– WebApp development
• September – October 2015
– Beta testing
– WebApp modifications
• December 2015: Launched!
Development Timeline
iconlife.org

6. • Conducted by team at the onset of the developmental stage
• Idea-generating strategy to consider needs, barriers, successes, &
goals of the intended user population
Phase 1: Value Proposition Canvas

7. Phase 2: Resource Directory
1) Started with lists from
community partners
2) Added topics & services
with YAB feedback
3) Confirmed & updated
current information for
each resource
4) Sent informational letters
to resources with ability to
opt-out of project

8. Phase 2: Resource Directory
Final directory includes over 350 LGBTQ-welcoming
services in SE Michigan across 17 topics:
§ Addic%on
&
Substance
Use
§ Adult
educa%on
§ Dental
§ Employment
§ Entertainment
§ Faith-­‐based
organiza%ons
§ Food
pantries
§ Housing
§ IPV
§ Legal
§ Linkage
to
care
§ Living
with
HIV/AIDS
§ Mental
Health
§ PrEP/PEP
§ Sex
educa%on
§ Social
support
§ Transporta%on

9. Phase 3: Life Skills Content
• Started with 4 domains based on life skills literature
• Refined topics and sub-topics based on YAB feedback
• iCON includes 16 life-skill topics
• All content is:
– individually-tailored
– written by SexLab staff, students, & YAB members
– averages 8th grade reading level

11. • Designed & programmed by Center for Health
Communications (CHCR)
• Surveys and content programmed using the
Michigan Tailoring System (MTS)
• Beta testing at two stages:
1) Logo, color schema, and wireframes
2) Rigorous tests of content, surveys, and structure
Phase 4: Design & Development

12. iconlife.org

13. Welcome Screen
• Display of 16 life skill topics
• Viewed vs. not viewed tiles
• Visual for goals set
• Visual for available surveys
• “Hamburger” menu

14. Welcome Screen
• Display of 16 life skill topics
• Viewed vs. not viewed tiles
• Visual for goals set
• Visual for available surveys
• “Hamburger” menu

15. Welcome Screen
• Display of 16 life skill topics
• Viewed vs. not viewed tiles
• Visual for goals set
• Visual for available surveys
• “Hamburger” menu

23. Next Steps:
• Continue recruitment in SE
Michigan through
November 2016
• Improve based on
feasibility and acceptability
feedback
• Evaluate outcomes to
inform design of larger HIV
prevention work

24. Thank you!
mirude@umich.edu
734-769-7253