title: Crowdsourcing HIV Test Promotion Videos: A Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trial in China.
abstract: Crowdsourcing, the process of shifting individual tasks to a large group, may enhance human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing interventions. We conducted a noninferiority, randomized controlled trial to compare first-time HIV testing rates among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals who received a crowdsourced or a health marketing HIV test promotion video.
  
  
  
  Seven hundred twenty-one MSM and transgender participants (≥16 years old, never before tested for HIV) were recruited through 3 Chinese MSM Web portals and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 videos. The crowdsourced video was developed using an open contest and formal transparent judging while the evidence-based health marketing video was designed by experts. Study objectives were to measure HIV test uptake within 3 weeks of watching either HIV test promotion video and cost per new HIV test and diagnosis.
  
  
  
  Overall, 624 of 721 (87%) participants from 31 provinces in 217 Chinese cities completed the study. HIV test uptake was similar between the crowdsourced arm (37% [114/307]) and the health marketing arm (35% [111/317]). The estimated difference between the interventions was 2.1% (95% confidence interval, -5.4% to 9.7%). Among those tested, 31% (69/225) reported a new HIV diagnosis. The crowdsourced intervention cost substantially less than the health marketing intervention per first-time HIV test (US$131 vs US$238 per person) and per new HIV diagnosis (US$415 vs US$799 per person).
  
  
  
  Our nationwide study demonstrates that crowdsourcing may be an effective tool for improving HIV testing messaging campaigns and could increase community engagement in health campaigns.
  
  
  
  NCT02248558.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.|School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Weiming
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.|School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mollan
authors.affiliation: Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Fengying
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hudgens
authors.affiliation: Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bayus
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
authors.forename: Fern
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Terris-Prestholt
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galler
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.
authors.forename: Ligang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peeling
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Volberding
authors.affiliation: Danlan, Beijing.
authors.forename: Baoli
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Baiyun, China.
authors.forename: Huifang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shujie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Public Health England, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Chongyi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Project-China.|Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STI Control.|Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global, Guangzhou, China.|School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Tucker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D063045:Crowdsourcing / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: China; HIV; crowdsourcing; men who have sex with men; testing