After informed consent, participants will be randomly assigned to Chatbot or TAU groups using stratified randomization by age. Participants in TAU will receive attention-matched educational materials manually sent by the research assistant. Participants in the intervention group will receive an automated personalized question message (root-node message) from the Chabot. In each round of the interactive communication, the Chatbot will provide automated personalized messages containing HIV testing-related information, motivation and skills based on participants' answers and will continuously update over time. Participants will be observed over 180 days with responses and interactions stored on a HIPAA-compliant and protected cloud. An independent assessment of recent testing and reasons why will be sent by link to both TAU and intervention groups using a link to a Qualtrics survey housed on REDCap at baseline and after 90 and 180 days. After 180 days, the RA will send an additional REDCap survey to intervention participants to assess the feasibility of the Chabot to measure 4 key elements: acceptability, practicality, demand, and adaptation.
In this study, the feasibility of a Chatbot in promoting HIV testing in a pilot RCT with 80 men who have sex with men in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be studied. Participants will be randomized to Chatbot or treatment as usual (TAU) groups. Participants in the intervention group will receive automated personalized messages containing HIV testing-related information, motivation and skills.