Behaviors, Health
Conditions
Brief summary
A parallel-group non-inferiority randomized controlled trial will then be conducted to evaluate the performance of HIVST-Chatbot. A total of 528 Hong Kong Chinese speaking men who have sex with men (MSM) aged ≥18 years who have access to live-chat applications are recruited from multiple sources. Those who are diagnosed as HIV positive are excluded. Participants are 1:1 randomized into the intervention group (n=264) or the control group (n=264). The research team will implement the HIVST-Chatbot (HIVST services with real-time counselling provided by a fully-automated artificial intelligence Chatbot) in the intervention group and HIVST-OIC (HIVST with real-time counselling provided by trained administrators) in the control group. Participants completed two telephone surveys at baseline and six months afterwards.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALHIVST-Chatbot (HIV self-testing services with counseling provided by a Chatbot)
Promote and implement HIVST-Chatbot
BEHAVIORALHIVST-OIC (HIV self-testing services with counseling provided by administrators)
Promote and implement HIVST-OIC
Sponsors
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
MALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Hong Kong Chinese-speaking men aged at least 18 years old * Having had anal intercourse with at least one man in the past six months * Willing to leave contact information and be followed up at Month 6 * Having access to the online live-chat application (WhatsApp) * Not intending to leave Hong Kong for one month consecutively within the next six months
Exclusion criteria
* Self-reported as HIV positive
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Uptake of HIV self-testing | 6 months | Proportion of participants who use HIV self-testing during the 6-month follow-up period |
| Proportion of HIV self-testing users receiving counselling along with testing | 6 months | Proportion of HIV self-testing users receiving counselling along with testing during the 6-month follow-up period |
Countries
Hong Kong
Contacts
Primary ContactZixin Wang, PhD
Outcome results
None listed