Promoting routine syphilis screening among men who have sex with men in China: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of syphilis self-testing and lottery incentive
Promoting routine syphilis screening among men who have sex with men in China: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of syphilis self-testing and lottery incentive
Blog Article
Abstract Background Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a high burden of syphilis infection.Expanding syphilis testing to improve timely diagnosis and treatment is critical to improve syphilis control.However, syphilis testing rates remain low among MSM, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.We describe the Sweaters protocol for a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess whether provision of syphilis self-testing services can increase the uptake of syphilis testing among MSM in China.Methods Four hundred forty-four high-risk MSM will be recruited online and randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to (1) standard syphilis self-testing arm; (2) a self-testing arm program enhanced with crowdsourcing and a lottery-based incentive, and (3) a standard of care (control).
Self-testing services include a free syphilis self-test kit through the mail at monthly intervals.Participants in the lottery incentive arm will additionally receive health promotion materials generated from an open crowdsourcing contest and be given a lottery draw with a 10% chance to win 100 RMB (approximately 15 US Dollars) upon confirmed completion of syphilis testing.Syphilis self-test kits have step-by-step instructions and an instructional video.This is a non-blinded, open-label, parallel RCT.Participants in each arm will be followed-up at three and 6 months through WeChat (a social media app like Facebook messenger).
Confirmation of syphilis self-test use will be determined by requiring participants to submit a photo of the used test kit to study staff via secure data messaging.Both self-testing and facility-based testing will be ascertained by sending a secure photographic image of the completed kit through an existing digital platform.The primary outcome is the proportion of participants who tested for syphilis in the past 3 months.Discussion Findings from this study will provide much needed insight on the impact of syphilis self-testing on promoting routine syphilis screening among MSM.The findings will also contribute to our understanding of the safety, effectiveness and acceptability of syphilis self-testing.
These findings will have important implications for self-testing policy, Vacuum Filter Frame both in China and internationally.Trial registration ChiCTR1900022409 (10 April, 2019).