Background: HIV testing plays a central role in the combat against HIV. We aimed to determine if the availability of\nHIV self-testing (HIVST) would increase the frequency of testing among men who have sex with men (MSM)\nattending university in China.\nMethods: A stepped wedge randomized controlled trial will be conducted in 4 provinces in China: Chongqing,\nGuangdong, Shandong, and Tianjin. Eligibility assessment will include (1) male, aged 16 years or older, (2) university\nstudent (technical diploma and undergraduate students), (3) MSM (sexual behaviors including mutual masturbation,\noral sex, and anal sex), (4) HIV negative, and (5) willing to provide informed consent.\nParticipants will be randomly allocated to HIV self-testing intervention with free HIVST kits in every 30 days\naccording to the intervention waiting lists with a computer-generated randomized sequence. All participants will\ncomplete a self-administrated online questionnaire onsite at baseline and 12-month follow-up and complete an\nonline questionnaire at 4- and 8-month.\nThe primary outcome is the effect of HIVST on HIV testing frequency. Secondary outcomes include the change in\nsexual behaviors and HIV incidence.\nDiscussion: No previous study had measured the effect of social media based HIVST intervention on the change in\nHIV testing behaviors, sexual behaviors and incident HIV infection among MSM attending university in China.\nFindings from this study will provide evidence for further interventional practice promotions and prevention\nstrategies scale-up, including HIV testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and\nsexual partner serosorting.\nTrial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1900020645. Registered 11 January 2019.
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