HealthMpowerment Korea: Pilot Testing the Cultural Adaptation of a Digital HIV Intervention for Men Who Have Sex With Men in South Korea (HMP Korea)

July 28, 2026 updated by: Seul Ki Choi

Pilot Testing the Cultural Adaptation of a Digital HIV Intervention for Men Who Have Sex With Men in South Korea

This study tests a mobile application (app) designed to support sexual health and prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among young men in South Korea. Researchers are interested to learn if the app is acceptable, easy to use, and helpful for young men who have sex with men (MSM).

Participants will complete a 15-minute online survey at the start of the study and another 15-minute survey 3 months later. Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 2 study groups for 3 months:

  1. Intervention Group: Participants receive access to the full mobile app, called Bandi. The app includes health articles, quizzes, community discussion forums, a personal sexual health log, and a clinic finder.
  2. Control Group: Participants receive access to a basic version of the app that includes informational articles and the clinic finder only.

Researchers will compare both groups over 3 months to see if using the full app leads to higher rates of HIV testing and lower sexual risk behaviors.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This pilot study evaluates Bandi, a culturally adapted digital HIV prevention intervention for young Korean men who have sex with men (MSM). Bandi is adapted from HealthMpowerment (HMP 2.0), an evidence-informed, status-neutral digital health platform designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for HIV risk reduction. Guided by Barrera and Castro's heuristic model for cultural adaptation, the trial represents Phase 3 (preliminary adaptation testing) following preliminary information gathering and beta testing (N=10).

Participants randomized to the full intervention arm receive 3-month access to the complete Bandi platform, consisting of five core integrated components:

  1. Resource Center (Activities & Articles): Culturally tailored educational materials, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence strategies, interactive quizzes, and skill-building activities.
  2. Forums: Moderated online discussion forums and structured polls facilitating peer-to-peer support on topics including relationships, stigma, and sexual health.
  3. Love Log: An interactive self-monitoring tool allowing users to log past sexual encounters, plan future encounters, track behavioral patterns, and evaluate risk.
  4. Care Locator: A map database identifying local, culturally sensitive HIV and STI testing facilities.
  5. Gamification: Engagement features including customizable avatars and accomplishment badges.

The control arm receives access restricted to static health articles and the Care Locator component.

The study is conducted remotely in South Korea through a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and Ewha Womans University. Local recruitment and participant communication are managed by trained staff at Ewha Womans University in collaboration with community stakeholder collectives.

In addition to self-reported web-based survey data (Qualtrics) collected at baseline and 3 months, application engagement will be continuously monitored via passively recorded paradata (e.g., module usage, login frequency, feature interactions). Statistical analyses will follow an intent-to-treat (ITT) approach. Chi-square/Fisher's Exact tests and Wilcoxon Two-Sample tests will evaluate preliminary differences between study arms regarding primary outcomes (routine HIV testing rates, reduction in condomless anal intercourse) and secondary outcomes (PrEP awareness/uptake, everyday discrimination, social support, depression, anxiety, and resilience).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

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

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • South Korea
      • Seoul, South Korea
        • Ewha Womans University
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sook Jung Kang, PhD, FNP-C

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

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male sex assigned at birth and current male gender identity
  • Aged 18 to 35 years
  • Current residence in the Seoul Metropolitan area
  • Korean nationality
  • Self-identify as a sexual minority (e.g., gay, bisexual, queer, or other non-heterosexual identity)
  • HIV-negative or HIV-unaware serostatus
  • Report at least 1 episode of condomless anal intercourse with a male partner in the prior 6 months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Assigned female at birth or do not currently identify as male
  • Younger than 18 or older than 35 years of age
  • Non-residence in the Seoul Metropolitan area
  • Do not hold Korean nationality
  • Do not identify as a sexual minority
  • Known HIV-positive status
  • No reported episodes of condomless anal intercourse with a male partner in the prior 6 months

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Bandi App (Full Access)
Participants in this arm receive full 3-month access to the complete Bandi mobile application. Key features include interactive health articles and quizzes, moderated peer community forums and polls, the Love Log (a sexual health self-monitoring tool), a HIV/STI care locator, and gamification elements (custom avatars and accomplishment badges).
Behavioral: Bandi Mobile Application (Full Access)
A culturally adapted digital HIV prevention mobile application designed for young men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Korea. Participants receive 3-month access to five core integrated features: interactive health articles and quizzes (covering PrEP, adherence, and sexual health); moderated peer community discussion forums and polls; Love Log (a sexual health tracking and planning tool); Care Locator (a directory of local HIV/STI testing centers); and gamification elements (customizable avatars and badges).
Active Comparator: Information-Only App (Limited Access)
Participants in this arm receive 3-month access to a limited version of the mobile application. Features are restricted to static educational articles and a care locator.
Behavioral: Information-Only Mobile Application (Limited Access)
A limited version of the mobile application provided to the control group over a 3-month period. Access is restricted to static online educational articles/resources and the Care Locator feature for finding local HIV/STI testing centers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of Participants Who Reported Receiving an HIV Test
Time Frame: 3 months post-randomization
Self-reported status of receiving an HIV test (Yes/No) as assessed via a web-based survey.
3 months post-randomization
Change in Frequency of Condomless Anal Intercourse (CAI)
Time Frame: Baseline and 3 months post-randomization
Self-reported number of condomless anal intercourse episodes with male partners in the prior 3 months, assessed via web-based survey.
Baseline and 3 months post-randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Seul Ki Choi

Collaborators

Ewha Womans University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Seul Ki Choi, MPH, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 3, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 28, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 26-7236

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

To protect participant privacy under local and international regulations-including South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and IRB protocols-individual participant data will not be publicly shared. The study involves sensitive sexual health data among a vulnerable population, and local regulatory restrictions prohibit the open release or cross-border sharing of raw individual participant records.

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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