Pay-it-forward Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Testing Among Men in China

University of North Carolina (UNC)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Gonorrhea; Chlamydia

Treatments: Other: Control arm; Behavioral: Standard Pay-it-forward; Behavioral: Community Engaged Pay-it-forward

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05723263

21-1667

R01AI158826 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

PIONEER is a three-arm, programmatic cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare effectiveness of three implementation strategies, followed by a mixed-methods implementation evaluation study

Full description

The study will be implemented at 12 clinics in Guangdong, China, which will be randomly assigned to one of the intervention arms for delivering gonorrhea testing: a standard pay-it-forward implementation strategy with minimal encouragement to get tested, a community-engaged pay-it-forward strategy, and a control arm in which men pay for their own sexually transmitted disease (STD) test. Data sources will include survey data on acceptability of intervention, intervention appropriateness, feelings and attitudes towards interventions among participants, administrative data about test uptake, treatment rate, and donations, as well as qualitative data to gain insights about men's perceptions and attitudes towards the pay-it-forward interventions strategies, mechanisms driving uptake and donating behaviors. Both survey and qualitative interviews with implementers and organizers about fidelity and adherence to protocol, intention to continue and maintain a pay-it-forward intervention, and barriers and facilitators of implementing the intervention will be conducted.

Enrollment: 1,200 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• at least 18 years old
• have had sex over the past year
• have not been tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia in the past year
• reside in the city in the past three months
• speak Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese
• mentally capable of providing informed consent to test for gonorrhea and chlamydia
• own a mobile phone

Exclusion criteria

• < 18 years of age

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,200 participants in 3 patient groups

Standard Pay-it-forward

Experimental group

Description:

* free gonorrhea/chlamydia testing * minimal engagement

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard Pay-it-forward

Community engaged Pay-it-forward

Experimental group

Description:

* Free gonorrhea/chlamydia testing * Stronger engagement

Treatment:

Behavioral: Community Engaged Pay-it-forward

Control arm

Other group

Description:

* Test available for a fee * No engagement

Treatment:

Other: Control arm