Pre-exposure ProphylaxisNCT05728034
Information Seeking About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
A study testing Injectable PrEP information and Oral PrEP information in people with Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, run by Penn State University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The goal of these two intervention studies is to test promising health communication messaging strategies most likely to enhance Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White YMSM's (young men who have sex with men's) engagement with online content about injectable and oral PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 34 years, men onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
- What is being tested?
- Injectable PrEP information and Oral PrEP information
- Type of treatment
- Pill or oral medicine, Injection or infusion, Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 314 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 30 May 2023to 18 Aug 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 34 years
- Men only
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Have an Internet-connectable device (Study 1 only)
- Be 18-34 years of age
- Identify as cisgender male
- Identify as gay or bisexual
- Be HIV negative
- Have had anal sex in the past 6 months
- Meet one of the following criteria: a. Have a sexual partner with HIV, b. Have inconsistent condom use, c. Have received an STI diagnosis in the last 6 months.
Who cannot join
- Does not meet all of the criteria above
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802
About this study
Official title: Information Seeking About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Men Who Have Sex With Men
The goal of these two intervention studies is to test promising health communication messaging strategies most likely to enhance Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White YMSM's (young men who have sex with men's) engagement with online content about injectable and oral PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Participants will be asked to browse a mock Google results page featuring various kinds of PrEP information, and their browsing behavior will be unobtrusively logged. In Study 1, participants will be randomly assigned to browse for information about oral PrEP or browse for information about injectable PrEP. The design of Study 2 will be identical to Study 1 but will focus only on injectable PrEP content. In addition to browsing behavior, visual behavior data will also be collected in Study 2 with eye-trackers.
Read the detailed description
Study 1 (online between-subjects experiment): An online sample of YMSM (N = 600) will be strategically recruited to partake in a web-based survey experiment following a mixed experimental design: 2 (PrEP type [between]: oral or injectable PrEP) X 5 (messaging strategy [within]: response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, \& basic information). The survey will begin by determining eligibility (self-report screener questions), gathering consent, and asking participants to self-report on several psychographic measures (PrEP awareness, knowledge, interest, and stigma). Participants will then be asked to interact with a mock Google results page featuring an array of information about PrEP. The survey will randomly assign participants to one of two versions of the mock Google search page: Half of participants (n = 300) will browse for information about oral PrEP, and the other half (n = 300) will browse for information about injectable PrEP. This browsing experience will unobtrusively log browsing data (clicks, page durations). Participants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies), visit those pages, and return to the main results page. After three minutes, participants will then be asked to self-report their intention to adopt PrEP. They will then be debriefed.
Study 2 (in-person within-subjects experiment): Interested participants will complete an initial screening questionnaire to ensure eligibility and then be linked to a separate survey to provide their contact information. Upon arrival to the study site, participants (N = 75) will begin by providing consent. They will then complete the same measures as Study 1 of PrEP interest, knowledge, and stigma. A research assistant will lead participants through a calibration activity to ensure the eye-trackers are able to track the participants' eye gaze. Participants will complete the same mock browsing experience as Study 1 with the exception that all participants will browse for information about injectable PrEP. The survey software will unobtrusively log browsing behavior (clicks, page durations) while eye-trackers will unobtrusively track visual behavior (fixations). Participants will then self-report their intent to use PrEP and be debriefed by a research assistant,
- Conditions
- Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
- Being tested
- Injectable PrEP information, Oral PrEP information
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Injectable PrEP informationBehavioural
Participants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies about injectable PrEP), visit those pages, and return to the main results page.
Oral PrEP informationBehavioural
Participants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies about oral PrEP), visit those pages, and return to the main results page.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Injectable PrEP information | Experimental | A mock Google search results page with five search results that reflect five messaging strategies about injectable PrEP (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information), displayed in random order. Receives: Behavioral: Injectable PrEP information |
| Oral PrEP information (Study 1 only) | Experimental | A mock Google search results page with five search results that reflect five messaging strategies about oral PrEP (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information), displayed in random order. Receives: Behavioral: Oral PrEP information |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Browsing behavior - First click
SoSciSurvey software will unobtrusively log the clicks participants will make on the different search results, with each search result reflecting a different messaging strategy (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information). Our analysis will focus on which search result/messaging strategy participants click on first as a behavioral indicator of message engagement.
Measured: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
Browsing behavior - Total page duration
SoSciSurvey software will unobtrusively log the amount of time (in seconds) participants spend on the different search results after clicking on it, with each search result reflecting a different messaging strategy (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information). Our analysis will focus on the total amount of time participants spend on the page for each of the different search results/messaging strategies as a behavioral indicator of message engagement.
Measured: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
Visual behavior - Total fixation duration (Study 2 only)
Total fixation duration can be defined as how long the eyes dwell on a particular object in one's field of vision. Total fixation duration will be recorded by mobile eye-trackers.
Measured: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
Secondary outcomes (2)
Change in intention to adopt PrEP
Self-reported change in intention to initiate PrEP, assessed on a 0-100 sliding scale (0 = definitely not, 100 = definitely yes). Thus, higher scores reflect greater intentions to use PrEP.
Measured: Will be measured immediately after completing the browsing task
Open-ended responses
Participants will be given an opportunity to list any other thoughts and suggestions they have about the kinds of messaging strategies about injectable PrEP that might engage their attention.
Measured: Will be measured immediately after completing the browsing task
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted14 Feb 2023
- Study start30 May 2023
- Primary completion18 Aug 2025
- Study completion18 Aug 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Pre-exposure ProphylaxisStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 314 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Penn State University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Chris Skurka, PhD, Penn State University
- Investigators
- Christofer J Skurka, PhD, Principal investigator, Penn State University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05728034
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- STUDY00021859
- Status last verified
- Feb 2026
- First submitted
- 3 Feb 2023
- Last updated
- 9 Feb 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: The researchers will make all data, analysis syntax, and materials (e.g., stimuli, survey measures) publicly available in accordance with NIH data sharing policies as well as Penn State University's IRB guidelines. Quantitative data will be made available in a non-proprietary file format (e.g., CSV). The researchers will strip all data of any personally identifying information before sharing our data. All the collected data will be actively managed, redundantly archived, and ultimately shared with the broader scientific community by the Data Commons online repository. The Penn State Data Commons is a service administered by Penn State University that provides maintenance and open access sharing of research project data during and after the period of support for the project. The Data Commons was developed with the intent of helping researchers comply with grant-funding agency requirements. It supports dissemination and long-term preservation (management, use, and re-use) of data.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 9 Feb 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Information Seeking About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Men Who Have Sex With Men
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05728034
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- STUDY00021859
- Conditions
- Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 314 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Penn State UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 30 May 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 18 Aug 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 18 Aug 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 14 Feb 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of these two intervention studies is to test promising health communication messaging strategies most likely to enhance Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White YMSM's (young men who have sex with men's) engagement with online content about injectable and oral PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Participants will be asked to browse a mock Google results page featuring various kinds of PrEP information, and their browsing behavior will be unobtrusively logged. In Study 1, participants will be randomly assigned to browse for information about oral PrEP or browse for information about injectable PrEP. The design of Study 2 will be identical to Study 1 but will focus only on injectable PrEP content. In addition to browsing behavior, visual behavior data will also be collected in Study 2 with eye-trackers.
Detailed description
Study 1 (online between-subjects experiment): An online sample of YMSM (N = 600) will be strategically recruited to partake in a web-based survey experiment following a mixed experimental design: 2 (PrEP type [between]: oral or injectable PrEP) X 5 (messaging strategy [within]: response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, \& basic information). The survey will begin by determining eligibility (self-report screener questions), gathering consent, and asking participants to self-report on several psychographic measures (PrEP awareness, knowledge, interest, and stigma). Participants will then be asked to interact with a mock Google results page featuring an array of information about PrEP. The survey will randomly assign participants to one of two versions of the mock Google search page: Half of participants (n = 300) will browse for information about oral PrEP, and the other half (n = 300) will browse for information about injectable PrEP. This browsing experience will unobtrusively log browsing data (clicks, page durations). Participants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies), visit those pages, and return to the main results page. After three minutes, participants will then be asked to self-report their intention to adopt PrEP. They will then be debriefed.
Study 2 (in-person within-subjects experiment): Interested participants will complete an initial screening questionnaire to ensure eligibility and then be linked to a separate survey to provide their contact information. Upon arrival to the study site, participants (N = 75) will begin by providing consent. They will then complete the same measures as Study 1 of PrEP interest, knowledge, and stigma. A research assistant will lead participants through a calibration activity to ensure the eye-trackers are able to track the participants' eye gaze. Participants will complete the same mock browsing experience as Study 1 with the exception that all participants will browse for information about injectable PrEP. The survey software will unobtrusively log browsing behavior (clicks, page durations) while eye-trackers will unobtrusively track visual behavior (fixations). Participants will then self-report their intent to use PrEP and be debriefed by a research assistant,
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Injectable PrEP information | Experimental | Behavioral: Injectable PrEP informationA mock Google search results page with five search results that reflect five messaging strategies about injectable PrEP (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information), displayed in random order. |
| Oral PrEP information (Study 1 only) | Experimental | Behavioral: Oral PrEP informationA mock Google search results page with five search results that reflect five messaging strategies about oral PrEP (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information), displayed in random order. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 34 years
- Sex
- Male only
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Have an Internet-connectable device (Study 1 only)
- Be 18-34 years of age
- Identify as cisgender male
- Identify as gay or bisexual
- Be HIV negative
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Does not meet all of the criteria above
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Injectable PrEP informationParticipants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies about injectable PrEP), visit those pages, and return to the main results page. | Behavioural | Injectable PrEP information |
| Oral PrEP informationParticipants will be able to click on the links on the search results page (which reflect the five messaging strategies about oral PrEP), visit those pages, and return to the main results page. | Behavioural | Oral PrEP information (Study 1 only) |
Primary outcome
Browsing behavior - First click
Time frame: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
SoSciSurvey software will unobtrusively log the clicks participants will make on the different search results, with each search result reflecting a different messaging strategy (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information). Our analysis will focus on which search result/messaging strategy participants click on first as a behavioral indicator of message engagement.
Browsing behavior - Total page duration
Time frame: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
SoSciSurvey software will unobtrusively log the amount of time (in seconds) participants spend on the different search results after clicking on it, with each search result reflecting a different messaging strategy (response efficacy, social norms, exemplar, celebrity, and basic information). Our analysis will focus on the total amount of time participants spend on the page for each of the different search results/messaging strategies as a behavioral indicator of message engagement.
Visual behavior - Total fixation duration (Study 2 only)
Time frame: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)
Total fixation duration can be defined as how long the eyes dwell on a particular object in one's field of vision. Total fixation duration will be recorded by mobile eye-trackers.
2 secondary outcomes
Change in intention to adopt PrEP
Time frame: Will be measured immediately after completing the browsing task
Open-ended responses
Time frame: Will be measured immediately after completing the browsing task
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 9 Feb 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. The researchers will make all data, analysis syntax, and materials (e.g., stimuli, survey measures) publicly available in accordance with NIH data sharing policies as well as Penn State University's IRB guidelines. Quantitative data will be made available in a non-proprietary file format (e.g., CSV). The researchers will strip all data of any personally identifying information before sharing our data. All the collected data will be actively managed, redundantly archived, and ultimately shared with the broader scientific community by the Data Commons online repository. The Penn State Data Commons is a service administered by Penn State University that provides maintenance and open access sharing of research project data during and after the period of support for the project. The Data Commons was developed with the intent of helping researchers comply with grant-funding agency requirements. It supports dissemination and long-term preservation (management, use, and re-use) of data.
Related trials for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
Not yet recruiting
Evaluating the Healthy Families PrEP Program for Women at Risk for HIV
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RecruitingObservational study
Implementation Study of Lenacapavir Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention
HIV Infections
Active, not recruiting
CAMELLIA Cohort: A Longitudinal Study to Understand Sexual Health and Prevention Among Women in Alabama
Hiv, Sexually Transmitted Diseases
RecruitingPhase 3
A Study of MK-8527 to Prevent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) (MK-8527-010)
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
RecruitingPhase 4
Enhancing PrEP Uptake and Retention Among Latine TGW and GBM in the South Using Long-Acting Injectable PrEP
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Christofer J Skurka, PhD principal investigator
Penn State University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Injectable PrEP information and Oral PrEP information in people with Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, run by Penn State University at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 9 Feb 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Browsing behavior - First click (time frame: Recorded while participants complete the Google results browsing task (3 minutes max)). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 9 Feb 2026.