NCT04379206

Social Network Approach for Increasing Testing Coverage Among Men Who Have Sex With Men

Completed Last updated 11 January 2022

What this trial tests

trial testing HIV self-test kit in HIV Infections in 463 participants. Completed in 12 May 2021.

Timeline

1 March 2021

Primary endpoint
12 May 2021

12 May 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Chinese University of Hong Kong
Status	Completed
Study type	OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment	463
Start date	1 March 2021
Primary completion	12 May 2021
Estimated completion	12 May 2021
Sites	1 location across Hong Kong

Drugs / interventions tested

• HIV self-test kit
• Graphical User Interface

Conditions studied

• HIV Infections — all drugs for HIV Infections →

Sponsor

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Who can join

18 and older, male only, with HIV Infections. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

HIV testing is essential in shortening the time to identify a new infection, the first 90 of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets. However, over one-third of the men who have sex with men (MSM) had never been tested for HIV; even if they did, one-fifth had their tests done more than a year ago. Assortative mixing pattern observed in the HIV-positive MSM group shaped the transmission dynamics and could be leveraged for intervention. Barriers to access HIV testing services could, on the other hand, be hurdled by self-tests. A network approach for intervention could therefore be promising in delivering effective HIV self-tests. To experiment with such an approach, a 2-phase study was conceptualised incorporating actual network-based referred HIV self-tests and an agent-based simulation evaluating its impact. Sixty-four MSM would be recruited as seeds for promoting HIV self-tests within their network and those being referred could refer their friends for the same after passing online training. To facilitate the process, an online platform would be developed offering information, collecting informed consent, requesting HIV self-test kits, returning results, performing online training, and referring peers. Participants could opt to receive self-tests by delivery or to conduct it on-site with staff assistance. A hotline with video conferencing support would be maintained to assist those who self-test at home. They could also choose between blood and oral fluid tests. Two user interfaces, namely gamification and neumorphism, would be randomly assigned. Primary outcomes to measure are number and proportion of MSM who had never or not tested within 12 months and the associating factors, and usability of the two user interfaces. Data collected in the empirical study would be used for parameterising the agent-based simulation to evaluate the impact of the approach in increasing testing coverage and shortening time to diagnosis. Its economic assessment would also be performed to cost each new infection to be identified. The approach could be feasible and effective to be adopted for future broader implementation for peer-led HIV self-test kit or HIV prevention message distribution.

Publications & conference data

2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Implementation Cascade of a Social Network-Based HIV Self-testing Approach for Men Who Have Sex With Men: Cross-sectional Study.
   Kwan TH, Chan DPC, Wong SY, Lee SS. · · 2023 · cited 16× · PMID 37099364 · DOI 10.2196/46514
2. User Experience and Usability of Neumorphism and Gamification User Interface Designs in an HIV Self-Test Referral Program for Men Who Have Sex With Men: Prospective Open-Label Parallel-Group Randomized Controlled Trial.
   Kwan TH, Chan DPC, Lee SS. · · 2022 · cited 4× · PMID 35731564 · DOI 10.2196/35869