Enhancing routine HIV and STI testing among young men who have sex with men: primary outcomes of the get connected clinical randomized trial (ATN 139)

BACKGROUND: Regular HIV and STI testing remain a cornerstone of comprehensive sexual health care.

In this study, we examine the efficacy of Get Connected, a WebApp that combines test locators with personalized educational resources, in motivating young men who have sex with men (YMSM) to undergo regular HIV and STI testing.

METHODS: Participants were randomly placed in one of two conditions.

The first condition included the full version of GC (GC-PLUS), which included content tailored to users’ psychosocial characteristics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, relationship status, HIV/STI testing history).

The second condition served as our attention-control and only included the testing locator (GC-TLO) for HIV/STI testing services.

Participants were recruited from three cities (Houston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta) characterized by high HIV incidence.

Assessments were collected at 1, 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month follow-ups.

RESULTS: Both versions of GC were acceptable and efficacious in increasing routine HIV and STI testing over a 12-month period.

40% of the sample reported testing at least twice, with no main effects observed across the two intervention arms (OR = 1.11; 95% CI: 0.69, 1.80), p =.66).

Greater intervention effects were observed among YMSM who engaged more frequently with the intervention, with regional differences observed.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the need to cater to the diverse needs of YMSM through multilevel approaches.

Broadly, mHealth HIV/STI testing interventions, such as Get Connected, would benefit from matching technologies to the local context to have the greatest impact.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03132415).