Enabling cloud deployment of a network data capture tool to improve Partner Services

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Project Summary Across HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the real-time understanding of transmission networks of recently infected individuals is vital for the rapid diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of new cases, and in providing insight into how the disease is transmitted, which populations are at highest risk, and who should be targeted for intervention. One of the most effective and widely implemented methods for understanding and intervening upon transmission networks is Partner Services - or interviewing a person newly diagnosed with HIV in order to identify any potentially exposed partners and notify, test, and, if necessary, connect those partners to care. However, the implementation of Partner Services by public health departments is often a challenge. In response to similar difficulties in the collection of social network research data, our team built a free open-source and NIH-funded software suite for researchers, called Network Canvas. Within the parent R34 award, we are conducting the formative work to understand the utility of Network Canvas as a free and open-source software tool that might simplify and modernize disease investigation for public health officials conducting Partner Services. Specifically, we characterized the needs of public health departments conducting Partner Services and developed a detailed technical specification of the software reconfiguration necessary to meet these needs. Finally, we are developing and implementing a pilot of the software within a Partner Services Program to demonstrate feasibility, acceptability, and gather preliminary evidence of efficacy. Our work within the R34 has demonstrated that Network Canvas's reliance on in-person interviewing limits its utility. For example, while public health's use of telephone interviews for Partner Services has been growing steadily for years, the COVID-19 pandemic hastened the complete transition to remote interviews. Accordingly, the goal of this supplement is to support the development of a remote administration option, thereby substantially increasing the usability, reach, and impact of this software for public health, drug use, and infectious disease research. In the short term, this supplement will produce a seamless end-to-end solution for public health, drug use, and infectious disease researchers to develop a network interview protocol, deploy an interview via URL link, invite participants and clients to complete this interview, and easily download interview data to their local data infrastructure. In the long term, the implications of achieving our aim would be substantially expanding the ability of researchers and public health officials to capture real-time information on disease transmission networks (e.g., contact tracing of sexual and drug use partners). The Network Canvas Software Suite and the parent R34 are an exceptional fit for an administrative supplement in response to NOT- OD-22-068. Our substantial and growing user base, our commitment to open-source development, and the immense need to make our tool “cloud-ready” ideally situates us to benefit from this support.