A Chatbot to Reduce Chemsex and HIV-related Risk Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men

March 13, 2026 updated by: Zixin Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong

A Chatbot to Reduce Chemsex and HIV-related Risk Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate whether receiving chatbot-delivered stage-of-change-tailored online interventions is effective in reducing chemsex among men who have sex with men in Hong Kong. The main question it aims to answer is:

Does chatbot-delivered stage-of-changed online interventions reduce chemsex among men who have sex with men

Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. The control group will watch one online video introducing chemsex-related knowledge and harm reduction skills per week for 12 weeks. On top of the interventions received by the control group, participants in the intervention group will have access to a chatbot during the 12-week intervention period. The chatbot will deliver 12 weekly episodes of interventions tailored to once's current stage-of-change related to chemsex. The chatbot will also address questions related to chemsex during the intervention period.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Hong Kong men aged at least 18 years
  • Able to understand Cantonese
  • Had anal intercourse with at least one man within the past six months
  • Willingness to provide contact information for follow-up
  • Having access to WhatsApp

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Self-reported a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group
Chatbot-delivered interventions and online videos
Behavioral: Chatbot-delivered online interventions and online videos
Participants will watch one online video introducing chemsex-related knowledge and harm reduction skills per week for 12 weeks. The chatbot will deliver 12 weekly episodes of interventions tailored to once's current stage-of-change related to chemsex. The chatbot will also address questions related to chemsex during the intervention period.
Active Comparator: Control group
Online videos only
Behavioral: Online videos only
Participants will watch one online video introducing chemsex-related knowledge and harm reduction skills per week for 12 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Presence of chemsex in the past 3 months
Time Frame: Baseline, after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 3 or Week 12), and 3 months after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 6)
Presence of chemsex will be measured by a validated questionnaire. Chemsex is defined as the use of any of the following psychoactive substances before or during sexual intercourse: ketamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, Dormicum/Halcion/Erimin 5/nonprescription hypnotic drugs, heroin, cough suppressant (not for curing cough), amyl nitrite (popper), GHB/GBL, 5-methoxy-N, N-diisopropyltryptamine (Foxy), and mephedrone. Participants will be asked whether they had used any of the aforementioned psychoactive substances before or during sexual intercourse in the past 3 months at baseline, after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 3 or Week 12), and 3 months after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 6)
Baseline, after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 3 or Week 12), and 3 months after completion of the 12-week intervention (Month 6)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

April 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 11, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ATFMSS393R

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

The data contains sensitive behaviors.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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