TY - JOUR
T1 - An Online Intervention Promoting HIV Testing Service Utilization Among Chinese men who have sex with men During the COVID-19 Pandemic
T2 - A quasi-experimental Study
AU - Wang, Zixin
AU - Chan, Paul Shing fong
AU - Xin, Meiqi
AU - Fang, Yuan
AU - Chidgey, Andrew
AU - Yu, Fuk yuen
AU - Ip, Mary
AU - Chen, Siyu
AU - Mo, Phoenix K.H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This HIV/AIDS prevention part of the project is sponsored by the Knowledge Transfer Project Fund, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (grant number: KPF19HLF16), and AIDS Trust Fund (ref#MSS313R and MSS350R). The content of this article represents the opinion of our organization only. It does not represent the position of the Knowledge Transfer Project Fund or the AIDS Trust Fund. Knowledge Transfer Project Fund and AIDS Trust Fund are not responsible for any claims, demands or liabilities whatsoever arising from or in connection with the use of any information contained in this article or the participation of the sponsored project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/6/7
Y1 - 2023/6/7
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic created disruptions in HIV testing service utilization among men who have sex with men (MSM). The present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an online health promotion program implemented by a community-based organization (CBO) in increasing the uptake of any type of HIV testing and home-based HIV self-testing (HIVST) over a six-month follow-up period. Participants of an observational prospective cohort study conducted during the same period served as the comparison group. This study was conducted between September 2020 and December 2021. Participants were Chinese-speaking adult MSM who were HIV-negative/unknown sero-status recruited through multiple sources in Hong Kong, China. Participants in the intervention group were exposed to the following health promotion components: (1) viewing an online video promoting HIVST, (2) visiting the project webpage, and (3) having access to a chargeable HIVST service implemented by the CBO. Among 400 and 412 participants in the intervention group and the comparison group, 349 (87.3%) and 298 (72.3%) completed follow-up evaluation at Month 6. Multiple imputation was used to replace missing values. At Month 6, participants in the intervention group reported significantly higher uptake of any type of HIV testing (57.0% versus 49.0%, adjusted odds ratios [AOR]: 1.43, p =.03) and HIVST (25.8% versus 14.8%, AOR: 2.04, p =.001), as compared to those in the comparison group. Process evaluation of the health promotion components for the intervention group was positive. Promoting HIVST is a potentially useful strategy to increase HIV testing service utilization among Chinese MSM during the pandemic.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic created disruptions in HIV testing service utilization among men who have sex with men (MSM). The present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an online health promotion program implemented by a community-based organization (CBO) in increasing the uptake of any type of HIV testing and home-based HIV self-testing (HIVST) over a six-month follow-up period. Participants of an observational prospective cohort study conducted during the same period served as the comparison group. This study was conducted between September 2020 and December 2021. Participants were Chinese-speaking adult MSM who were HIV-negative/unknown sero-status recruited through multiple sources in Hong Kong, China. Participants in the intervention group were exposed to the following health promotion components: (1) viewing an online video promoting HIVST, (2) visiting the project webpage, and (3) having access to a chargeable HIVST service implemented by the CBO. Among 400 and 412 participants in the intervention group and the comparison group, 349 (87.3%) and 298 (72.3%) completed follow-up evaluation at Month 6. Multiple imputation was used to replace missing values. At Month 6, participants in the intervention group reported significantly higher uptake of any type of HIV testing (57.0% versus 49.0%, adjusted odds ratios [AOR]: 1.43, p =.03) and HIVST (25.8% versus 14.8%, AOR: 2.04, p =.001), as compared to those in the comparison group. Process evaluation of the health promotion components for the intervention group was positive. Promoting HIVST is a potentially useful strategy to increase HIV testing service utilization among Chinese MSM during the pandemic.
KW - COVID-19
KW - health promotion
KW - home-based HIV self-testing
KW - men who have sex with men
KW - quasi-experimental study
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161327276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10461-023-04100-5
DO - 10.1007/s10461-023-04100-5
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85161327276
SN - 1090-7165
JO - AIDS and Behavior
JF - AIDS and Behavior
ER -