Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 25, 2023
Date Accepted: May 23, 2023
Delivery of WeChat-based HIV result E-reports in social networks for recruitment of high-risk population: baseline data from a cluster randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Disclosure of infectious disease status to social network peers can facilitate reaching and early detections among high-risk populations. In the social media era, HIV/AIDS with a global high burden of infectious disease, delivery of HIV result E-report in social media associates is a new approach which has the potential to improve the contacting and enrollment of the high-risk population in research studies and routine practice.
Objective:
To explore the effectiveness and associated factors of a recruitment strategy, WeChat-based HIV result E-report delivery in social network, on enrollment of men who have sex with men (MSM) for a HIV testing intervention study.
Methods:
This was an enrollment result analysis of an ongoing randomized controlled trial aiming to promote HIV testing among MSM, recruitment of potential participants was based on the unit of an egocentric social network, which includes one core member (an offline tested Ego as the recruiter) and several network members (online Alters as network associates). We investigated Alters’ online enrollment and transformation to offline Ego-recruiters (Alter-egos) for the subsequent waves as outcomes and associated factors.
Results:
The HIV E-reports of 1,157 Egos who tested offline were delivered to 5,165 Alters in three recruitment waves; eventually, 1,162 eligible Alters enrolled in this RCT, giving a 22.5% response rate. Egos who forwarded E-reports more times were more likely to successfully recruit Alters who completed enrollment. First-wave Alters’ transformation to Alter-egos for the subsequent wave was associated with high income, Guangzhou resident, unprotected anal intercourse, preferring self-testing, and viewing senders’ E-reports frequently. Qualitative interviews revealed that the lack of awareness of E-reports’ function and inadequate access to E-reports at offline testing facilities were major barriers to Alters’ transformation to offline Ego-recruiters.
Conclusions:
The delivery of WeChat-based E-report was feasible in MSM social network, and it provides an innovative recruitment method with great potential to trace direct contacts for infectious diseases studies.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.