An observational study in HIV Infections, sponsored by Chinese University of Hong Kong. Completed at 1 site in Hong Kong. Open to male participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-01-11.
Sponsored by Chinese University of Hong Kong · Observational
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.
4,258 studies on the registry are indexed under HIV Infections; 240 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 463 is above the median of 200 across 713 observational studies indexed under HIV Infections.
Browse HIV Infections studies →Chinese University of Hong Kong is the lead sponsor of 1,419 studies on the registry; 487 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Adult men who have sex with men in Hong Kong
Exclusion Criteria:
MSM receiving a self-test kit with optional assistance
Diagnostic Test: HIV self-test kit · Other: Graphical User Interface
fingerprick and oral fluid HIV self-tests with optional on-site or hotline staff assistance
Gamification or neumorphism user interface
effectiveness of the approach in reaching MSM who have never or not recently tested for HIV
proportion of testers who have never or not recently tested for HIV
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Usability and acceptability of two user interfaces
System Usability Scores (SUS) and proportion of testers giving a score of at least 71
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Determinants of key actors in the social network
Network metrics predicting important actors in the referral network
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Preference of two forms of HIV self-testing
Proportion of testers favouring each form of self-testing
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Effect of network-based HIV self-test promotion in controlling transmission among MSM
Number of infections identified from the agent-based model
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Proportion and characteristics of promoters
Promoters are testers giving an SUS score of at least 80
Time frame: Through study completion, at year 2
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Chinese University of Hong Kong