Improving Consent and Survey Procedures for young MSM in Web-based HIV Prevention

描述(由申请人提供)：在美国，男男性行为者是受艾滋病毒影响最严重的危险人群，年轻男男性接触者中的疫情大幅增长。鉴于美国有色人种扩大互联网接入的模式，以及社交网络社区在美国年轻人中的高覆盖率，互联网是进行性健康研究和向年轻MSM提供艾滋病毒预防干预的一个有前途的场所。然而，尽管互联网有一些实质性的优势，包括数据积累的速度和成本效益，但基于互联网的数据收集也有重要的限制。例如，缺乏关于在线知情同意程序有效性的经验数据，在线调查经常有大量人退出，有人担心，当提供金钱奖励时，一些人可能会欺诈性地报名参加研究，损害研究结果的有效性。因此，我们建议进行一系列实验，以提高对如何在年轻MSM中进行基于互联网的艾滋病毒预防研究的了解，以改善对人类受试者的保护，并减少数据收集中的偏见。该设计将包括两个横断面随机对照试验，总共通过社交网站和面向同性恋的互联网场所招募的2650名MSM。在第一次试验中，我们将测试两种替代方案 知情同意的方法(视频同意和“常见问题”式的项目符号同意)与提供标准同意文件的方法。结果将是对同意的内容的理解，以及同意的男性比例。在第二次试验中，我们将制定和测试非货币激励措施，以促进调查的完成。参与者将被随机分成五组：三种非货币激励(利他信息、访问独家热门视频内容和访问“仪表板”，将参与者的反应与其他MSM的反应进行比较)、适度的金钱激励或不激励(练习ARM的标准)。调查的结果将是完成调查，作为调查失败的时间。我们预计，拟议的研究将有助于在这一受严重影响的美国年轻人群体中确定和推广知情同意和参与研究的最佳方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Men who have sex with men are the risk population most heavily impacted by HIV in the United States, and there substantial growth in the epidemic among young MSM. Given patterns of expanding access to the internet by Americans of color, and the high coverage among young Americans of social networking communities, the internet is a promising venue both for conducting sexual health research and delivering HIV prevention interventions to young MSM. However, despite some substantial advantages of the internet, including such as speed of data accrual and cost efficiency, there are also important limitations to internet-based data collections. For example, there is a lack of empirical data about the effectiveness of informed consent processes online, there is often substantial dropout from online surveys, and there are concerns that some people might fraudulently enroll in studies when monetary incentives are offered, compromising the validity of research results. Thus, we propose to conduct a series of experiments that will result in improved knowledge of how to conduct internet-based HIV prevention research with young MSM in ways that improve the protection of human subjects and decrease biases in data collections. The design will consist of two cross-sectional randomized controlled trials of a total of 2650 MSM recruited through social networking sites and gay-oriented Internet venues. In the first trial, we will test two alternative approaches to informed consent (video consent and "FAQ"-style bulleted consent) versus provision of a standard consent document. Outcomes will be comprehension of the content of the consent, and proportion of men who consent. In the second trial, we will develop and test non-monetary incentives to promote completion of surveys. Participants will be randomized to one of five arms: three kinds of non-monetary incentives (altruistic messaging, access to exclusive topical video content, and access to a "dashboard", comparing the participant's responses to those of other MSM), a modest monetary incentive, or no incentive (standard of practice arm). The outcome will be completion of the survey, operationalized as time to failure in the survey. We expect that the proposed research will help support the identification and promotion of best methods for informed consent and engagement in research in this heavily impacted group of young Americans.