Conclusions
communicable diseases, WeChat-based, communicable disease, infectious disease
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, RECRUITMENT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE, REGRESSION, COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
This study recruited sufficient MSM to participate in an HIV testing intervention study through the delivery of HIV e-reports in social networks using a WeChat-based mini-program “ChaBei.” The delivery of e-reports was acceptable in MSM social networks. The HIV e-report exchange mechanism might promote MSM to test HIV offline to get their own e-report for exchange in the community and thus achieve sustainability of recruitment. Further, promoting awareness and increasing recognition of online communicable disease reporting tools are key to ensuring the success and sustainability of online recruitment. This study provides a feasible and sustainable recruitment strategy to trace the direct contacts of individuals with communicable diseases for early testing and participation in infectious disease research.This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 71974212, 72204059), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grant 2020A1515010737), and Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (grant 202201010078). Mr Qi Liu, Mr Gang Meng, and Mr Jie Lu (Guangzhou Lingnan Community Support Center) assisted with WeChat-based mini-program development and ego offline recruitment. Tailing Chen, Sha Chen, and Jinyue Li (all from School of Public Health); Minghui Zhang (from School of Life Science); and Yijun Guo (from School of Pharmaceutical Science, Sun Yat-sen University) assisted with offline and online recruitment. Professional English language editing support was provided by AsiaEdit.Authors' Contributions: JSL wrote the manuscript and conducted all statistical analyses. FSH participated in the research design, data collection design, and manuscript revision. YHL is the co-principal investigator responsible for the online part of this project, including research design, WeChat-based mini-program design, management, and supervision. XRF conducted baseline and follow-up data collection, quality control, project implementation, and manuscript revision. JLQ and QLY participated in the research design, data collection design, project launch, beginning of baseline data collection, beginning of baseline quality control, and beginning of baseline project implementation. JG, JHL, and DRX participated in the research design, data collection design, and part of human and funding resources support during the project implementation. YZG is the co-principal investigator responsible for site works, including research design, WeChat-based mini-program design, clinic and telephone data collection, management, and supervision. CH is the principal investigator of this project in the management and leadership of the research project.Conflicts of Interest: None declared.Characteristics of egos and alters, results of regression models, results of the null model, and an image showing social networks containing the 3 waves of recruitment.The CONSORT-eHEALTH checklist (V 1.6.1).