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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02796963

Crowdsourcing A Public Health Campaign

The purpose of this stepped wedge randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of a crowdsourced intervention on promoting HIV testing among young Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM). The crowdsourced intervention will include an open contest, judging to determine finalists and prizes, a designathon, and contest-based MSM engagement. The hypothesis is that a crowdsourced intervention will be superior to conventional HIV test uptake campaigns in eliciting HIV test uptake.

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Key information

Conditions

HIV

Age range

16 year and older

Sex eligibility

Male

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

About this study

This study will use an adaptation of the stepped wedge randomized controlled trial design. A total of eight major metropolitan cities will implement the crowdsourced intervention. These cities will be chosen based on the following criteria: 1) previous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) MSM sentinel surveillance site; 2) capacity for campaign implementation; 3) capacity for intervention implementation at the community level. Four cities will implement more intensive in-person events to promote engagement (Guangzhou, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, Qingdao, and Jinan in Shandong Province) during survey intervention stage. The Randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be evaluated using two different sources of data: 1) online survey data from MSM in the eight cities prior to and after the intervention; 2) CDC routine surveillance data in the eight cities prior to and after the intervention.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Currently living and planning to live in one of the eight cities used in the study in the next 12 months.
  • Not living with HIV
  • No HIV test in the past three months
  • Born biologically male and identify as either male or transgender female
  • Had anal or oral sex with men at least once during their lifetime
  • 16 years or older
  • Willing to provide cell phone number
  • Complete the informed consent document

Exclusion criteria

  • Women are excluded from this study

Treatment and study plan

Crowdsourced intervention

Behavioral

The crowdsourced intervention is composed of three phases that cumulatively draw on crowd wisdom to engage the community: (1) a crowdsourcing contest to solicit optimal images/concepts/taglines; (2) a designathon to formulate optimal HIV testing campaigns; (3) a process of localization unique to each of the eight cities.

Traditional intervention campaign

Behavioral

The pre-intervention period will include conventional HIV testing campaigns organized by local CDC, Community-Based Organization (CBO), and partners. These are typically designed by experts and social marketing companies.

Other names: Conventional HIV testing campaign

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) Reporting HIV Testing in the Past Three Months

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    This will be assessed by self-report during a follow-up survey

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of Men Reporting Condomless Sex at 3 Months Post-intervention

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  2. HIV Testing Social Norms

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    HIV testing social norms will be measured using six survey items that are each on a five-point Likert scale. Increased HIV testing social norms will be defined as having an increase from baseline in any two of these six survey items and dichotomized accordingly. Number of men who report higher score of social norms when comparing their pre-intervention and post-intervention values

  3. Change in HIV Testing Self-efficacy

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    Number of men who report higher levels of self-efficacy when comparing their pre-intervention and post-intervention HIV testing norms

  4. Community Engagement/ MSM Community Affiliation

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    Number of men, defined as an increase in closer affiliation with the MSM community (i.e., tongzhi circle, gay online networks or groups) when comparing their pre-intervention and post-intervention periods.

  5. Number of Men Reporting Engaged in HIV Testing Community Campaign in the Past 3 Months

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  6. Number of Men Reporting Being Self-tested for HIV in the Last 3 Months Post-intervention

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  7. Mean Score of Anticipated HIV Stigma

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    Measured by a 7-item version of the anticipated HIV stigma scale, designed to measure the extent to which participants anticipated negative intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences were they to contract HIV in the future. All seven items were rated on a Likert-type scale (1=Strongly Disagree; 4=Strongly Agree). The mean score is reported, ranged from 1 to 4. Higher values indicate greater anticipated stigma.

  8. Number of Men Reporting Being Tested for Syphilis in the Last 3 Months Post-intervention

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  9. Number of Men Reporting Using Weibo in the Past Three Months Post-intervention to Give or Receive Information About HIV Testing

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  10. Number of Men Reporting Using Wechat in the Past Three Months Post-intervention to Give or Receive Information About HIV Testing

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  11. Number of Men Reporting Using Tencent QQ (QQ) in the Past Three Months Post-intervention to Give or Receive Information About HIV Testing

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

  12. Number of Men Reporting Using Mobile Apps in the Past Three Months Post-intervention to Give or Receive Information About HIV Testing

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

    Frequency of men, defined as the number of men who reported using mobile apps in the past three months to give or receive information about HIV testing comparing their pre-intervention and post-intervention engagement

  13. Number of Men Reporting Received HIV Self-testing Kits in the Last 3 Months Post-intervention

    Time frame: From implementation roll-out to three months after implementation of crowdsourced intervention

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Other

Collaborators

  • Guangdong Center for Disease Prevention and Control
  • Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control
  • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  • SESH Global
  • Shandong Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Shandong University
  • UNC Center for AIDS Research
  • UNC-South China STD Research Training Center
  • University of Bristol

Registry information

Official study title

Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID) 11604 - Crowdsourcing to Promote HIV Testing: A Stepped Wedge Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate Promoting HIV Testing in China

Important dates

Study start
2016
Primary completion
2017
Study completion
2017
First posted
Jun 13, 2016
Registry last updated
Aug 28, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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