Innovation contests to promote sexual health in China: a qualitative evaluation

Feasibility assessment of crowdsourcing slogans for promoting household waste segregation in India: a cross-sectional study

Introduction

Crowdsourcing is an emerging technique to engage or access a wider set of experts and multiple stakeholders through online platforms, which might effectively be employed in waste management. Therefore, we assessed the feasibility of the crowdsourcing method to provide an alternative approach that can improve household waste segregation using an "online-slogan-contest".

Methods

The contest was promoted via targeted emails to various governmental and non-governmental organizations and through social media platforms for around 4 weeks (25 days). The entries were received through a Google form. The slogans were assessed by the experts and analyzed using content analysis methods.

Results

Total 969 entries were received from different geographic regions in India. Of that, 456 were in English and 513 in Hindi. Five themes of waste segregation emerged from the received slogans: (1) Community awareness, responsibility, and support, (2) Significance of household waste segregation, (3) Use of separate dustbins, (4) Health and well-being, and (5) Environment and sustainability.

Discussion

Crowdsourcing approaches can be used by local authorities for improving waste management approaches and are recommended as these involve a wider audience within a short time frame. Moreover, this approach is flexible and integrating crowdsourcing approaches strengthens our understanding of existing waste management activities.

The Influence of Health-Promoting Leadership on Employees' Positive Workplace Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Employability and the Moderating Role of Workplace Civility

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely accelerated the transformation and rapid organisational change in the workplace. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry will not fade in a short time, and the long-term coexistence with the COVID-19 pandemic pressure is a real dilemma for the hotel industry. The topic of How to create employee positive workplace outcomes (task performance and innovative work behaviour) during the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered increasing interest in both practical and academic fields. Leaders play a critical role in influencing employee workplace outcomes, yet few studies have explored the predicting role of health-promoting leadership. Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to examine the employability mediator effect and workplace civility as the moderator effect in the relationship between health-promoting leadership and employee-positive workplace outcomes (task performance and innovative work behaviour). We conducted a two-wave survey of 421 participants from the hotel industry in China and formulated a series of hypotheses that were tested with structural equation modelling. The results showed that health-promoting leadership has a significant positive effect on employees' employability (β = 0.479, p < 0.001), task performance (β = 0.250, p < 0.001), and innovative work behaviour (β = 0.446, p < 0.001). Employability has a significant positive effect on task performance (β = 0.438, p < 0.001) and innovative work behaviour (β = 0.296, p < 0.001). This study makes certain contributions to the extant hotel industry employees' positive workplace outcomes literature by attending to the healthy leadership styles that promote employability during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its novel point is to evaluate the workplace civility moderating effect between the above model. It also provides practical insight that mutual transformation in workplace relationships inspire those positive outcomes.

Evaluating and volunteering for crowdsourced interventions: Cross-sectional data on COVID-19 safety from a University Survey

Despite many innovative ideas generated in response to COVID-19, few studies have examined community preferences for these ideas. Our study aimed to determine university community members’ preferences for three novel ideas identified through a crowdsourcing open call at the University of North Carolina (UNC) for making campus safer in the pandemic, as compared to existing (i.e. pre-COVID-19) resources. An online survey was conducted from March 30, 2021 –May 6, 2021. Survey participants included UNC students, staff, faculty, and others. The online survey was distributed using UNC’s mass email listserv and research directory, departmental listservs, and student text groups. Collected data included participant demographics, COVID-19 prevention behaviors, preferences for finalist ideas vs. existing resources in three domains (graduate student supports, campus tours, and online learning), and interest in volunteering with finalist teams. In total 437 survey responses were received from 228 (52%) staff, 119 (27%) students, 78 (18%) faculty, and 12 (3%) others. Most participants were older than age 30 years (309; 71%), women (332, 78%), and white (363, 83.1%). Five participants (1%) were gender minorities, 66 (15%) identified as racial/ethnic minorities, and 46 (10%) had a disability. Most participants preferred the finalist idea for a virtual campus tour of UNC’s lesser-known history compared to the existing campus tour (52.2% vs. 16.0%). For graduate student supports, 41.4% of participants indicated no preference between the finalist idea and existing supports; for online learning resources, the existing resource was preferred compared to the finalist idea (41.6% vs. 30.4%). Most participants agreed that finalists’ ideas would have a positive impact on campus safety during COVID-19 (81.2%, 79.6%, and 79.2% for finalist ideas 1, 2 and 3 respectively). 61 (14.1%) participants indicated interest in volunteering with finalist teams. Together these findings contribute to the development and implementation of community-engaged crowdsourced campus safety interventions during COVID-19.

'Informed and empowered': a mixed-methods study of crowdsourcing contests to promote uptake of HIV self-testing kits among African Americans

OBJECTIVE

HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits are a viable alternative to testing in clinical settings, but research on the effective ways of promoting uptake of HIVST kits has been lacking. The present study examines crowdsourcing contests as community engagement to promote uptake of HIVST kits among African Americans in the southern region of the US.

METHODS

This mixed-methods study design evaluated two contests through qualitative assessment of contest entries. The first contest elicited ideas on how to promote HIVST kits. The second contest sought branding ideas for a pop-up HIVST booth. Qualitative data were digitally transcribed and analysed using MAXQDA software and axial coding.

RESULTS

The study participants (n = 296) were mostly African American (n = 258, 87%) and between 18 and 25 years of age (n = 84, 28%). Contestants suggested making HIVST kits available in community sites and highlighting kits as potential sources of knowledge, relief and empowerment.

CONCLUSION

Crowdsourcing contests are a beneficial community engagement tool to identify new ways to promote uptake of HIVST kits.

Crowdsourcing Methods to Enhance HIV and Sexual Health Services: A Scoping Review and Qualitative Synthesis

BACKGROUND

Crowdsourcing is increasingly used to improve community engagement in HIV and sexual health research. In this scoping review, we reviewed studies using crowdsourcing approaches in HIV and sexual health research to identify strengths, opportunities for expansion, and limitations of such approaches.

METHODS

We searched CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, and PubMed. Studies were included if they involved crowdsourcing activities, were in the field of HIV or sexual health, and described the methodology in sufficient detail. We conducted a qualitative synthesis of eligible articles.

RESULTS

Our search strategy yielded 431 nonduplicate articles. After screening, 16 articles met the inclusion criteria, including 4 publications that described research from high-income countries, 7 from middle-income countries, 1 from a low-income country, and 4 that had a global focus. There were 4 categories of crowdsourcing: open contests, hackathons, open forums, and incident reporting systems. We identified common phases for data acquisition and dissemination: (1) preparation; (2) problem framing and crowd solicitation; (3) judging submissions; and (4) sharing selected submissions. Strengths of using crowdsourcing approaches include greater innovation due to crowd heterogeneity, encouragement of multisectoral collaboration, empowerment of vulnerable populations, cost-effectiveness, and relevance to local cultures and styles. Weaknesses among some methods include reliance on the internet, temporal transience, and difficulty in sustaining long-term community engagement.

CONCLUSIONS

Crowdsourcing may be useful for HIV implementation research. Further research on crowdsourcing related to HIV and sexual health is needed.

Crowdsourcing in medical research: concepts and applications

Crowdsourcing shifts medical research from a closed environment to an open collaboration between the public and researchers. We define crowdsourcing as an approach to problem solving which involves an organization having a large group attempt to solve a problem or part of a problem, then sharing solutions. Crowdsourcing allows large groups of individuals to participate in medical research through innovation challenges, hackathons, and related activities. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the definition, concepts, and applications of crowdsourcing in medicine. This multi-disciplinary review defines crowdsourcing for medicine, identifies conceptual antecedents (collective intelligence and open source models), and explores implications of the approach. Several critiques of crowdsourcing are also examined. Although several crowdsourcing definitions exist, there are two essential elements: (1) having a large group of individuals, including those with skills and those without skills, propose potential solutions; (2) sharing solutions through implementation or open access materials. The public can be a central force in contributing to formative, pre-clinical, and clinical research. A growing evidence base suggests that crowdsourcing in medicine can result in high-quality outcomes, broad community engagement, and more open science.

Reimagining Health Communication: A Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trial of Crowdsourced Intervention in China

BACKGROUND

Crowdsourcing, the process of shifting individual tasks to a large group, may be useful for health communication, making it more people-centered. We aimed to evaluate whether a crowdsourced video is noninferior to a social marketing video in promoting condom use.

METHODS

Men who have sex with men (≥16 years old, had condomless sex within 3 months) were recruited and randomly assigned to watch 1 of the 2 videos in 2015. The crowdsourced video was developed through an open contest, and the social marketing video was designed by using social marketing principles. Participants completed a baseline survey and follow-up surveys at 3 weeks and 3 months postintervention. The outcome was compared with a noninferiority margin of +10%.

RESULTS

Among the 1173 participants, 907 (77%) and 791 (67%) completed the 3-week and 3-month follow-ups. At 3 weeks, condomless sex was reported by 146 (33.6%) of 434 participants and 153 (32.3%) 473 participants in the crowdsourced and social marketing arms, respectively. The crowdsourced intervention achieved noninferiority (estimated difference, +1.3%; 95% confidence interval, -4.8% to 7.4%). At 3 months, 196 (52.1%) of 376 individuals and 206 (49.6%) of 415 individuals reported condomless sex in the crowdsourced and social-marketing arms (estimated difference: +2.5%, 95% confidence interval, -4.5 to 9.5%). The 2 arms also had similar human immunodeficiency virus testing rates and other condom-related secondary outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates that crowdsourced message is noninferior to a social marketing intervention in promoting condom use among Chinese men who have sex with men. Crowdsourcing contests could have a wider reach than other approaches and create more people-centered intervention tools for human immunodeficiency virus control.

Quantitative evaluation of an innovation contest to enhance a sexual health campaign in China

BACKGROUND

Crowdsourcing method is an excellent tool for developing tailored interventions to improve sexual health. We evaluated the implementation of an innovation contest for sexual health promotion in China.

METHODS

We organized an innovation contest over three months in 2014 for Chinese individuals < 30 years old to submit images for a sexual health promotion campaign. We solicited entries via social media and in-person events. The winning entry was adapted into a poster and distributed to STD clinics across Guangdong Province. In this study, we evaluated factors associated with images that received higher scores, described the themes of the top five finalists, and evaluated the acceptability of the winning entry using an online survey tool.

RESULTS

We received 96 image submissions from 76 participants in 10 Chinese provinces. Most participants were youth (< 25 years, 85%) and non-professionals (without expertise in medicine, public health, or media, 88%). Youth were more likely to submit high-scoring entries. Images from professionals in medicine, public health, or media did not have higher scores compared to images from non-professionals. Participants were twice as likely to have learned about the contest through in-person events compared to social media. We adapted and distributed the winning entry to 300 STD clinics in 22 cities over 2 weeks. A total of 8338 people responded to an acceptability survey of the finalist entry. Among them, 79.8% endorsed or strongly endorsed being more willing to undergo STD testing after seeing the poster.

CONCLUSIONS

Innovation contests may be useful for soliciting images as a part of comprehensive sexual health campaigns in low- and middle-income countries.

Crowdsourcing and community engagement: a qualitative analysis of the 2BeatHIV contest

Background: As HIV cure research advances, it is important to engage local communities. Crowdsourcing may be an effective, bottom-up approach. Crowdsourcing contests elicit public contributions to solve problems and celebrate finalists. We examine the development of a crowdsourcing contest to understand public perspectives about HIV cure research. Methods: We used flyers, emails, online advertisement and phone calls to recruit a convenience sample of community members to participate in focus-group discussions. Participants developed a contest name, logo and hashtag. Qualitative analysis identified emergent themes in the focus group transcripts. Results: Seventy-one people participated in four focus groups. Emergent themes for HIV cure engagement included: (1) emphasising collective approaches to HIV cure; (2) dispelling myths to spur discussion; (3) using HIV cure as motivation for participation; and (4) using creative community engagement. Conclusion: Crowdsourcing contests may be useful for engaging local communities, developing culturally tailored awareness campaign messaging, and encouraging the public to learn more about HIV cure research.

What Would an HIV Cure Mean to You? Qualitative Analysis from a Crowdsourcing Contest in Guangzhou, China

Much HIV cure social science research has focused on high-income countries. Local key population perspectives, especially from people living with HIV (PLHIV), are needed in low- and middle-income countries. We organized an open contest soliciting responses from key populations, including PLHIV, about what a cure would mean in their lives. Tailored in-person events and social media were used to engage PLHIV, men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs, and local residents. We received 471 contributions over 4 months. Our thematic analysis showed that many people perceived that a cure would sterilize HIV and bring about new life for PLHIV. Many individuals believed a cure would decrease PLHIV discrimination and many MSM perceived a cure would decrease MSM discrimination. Some participants noted that a cure could help improve interpersonal relations, particularly with families and partners. Many individuals envisioned HIV cure as a panacea to bring about social stability. Some participants also anticipated changes in attitudes toward sex that may result in increased condomless sex. Our findings suggest a continued need for careful management of patient expectations and community engagement.

Systematic review of innovation design contests for health: spurring innovation and mass engagement

We undertook a systematic review evaluating the effectiveness and cost of health-focused innovation design contests. We followed Cochrane guidance and systematically searched eight databases. Articles were included if they reported an open contest focused on improving health, required participants submit finished design solutions and contained a prize structure. We searched 3579 citations, identifying 29 health-focused innovation design contests which collectively received 15494 contest submissions. Contests solicited submissions worldwide (7) and exclusively from North America (13), Asia (4), Africa (2), Australia (2) and Europe (1). Submissions per contest ranged from 3 to 11354 (median of 73). Contest entrants were tasked with helping develop health promotion messages (HPM) (25) and improve predictive clinical models, protocols and/or algorithms (4). Two types of contests emerged-those focused on high-quality, innovative outcomes and those focused on the process of mass community engagement. All outcome-oriented contests had innovation design contest solutions equivalent or superior to the comparator (100%; 7/7). Two of two studies found that innovation design contests saved money (100%; 2/2). Five of seven process-oriented contests concluded the contest improved at least one health indicator (71%; 5/7). Innovation design contests are an effective way to solicit innovative solutions to health problems and spur mass community engagement.

Crowdsourcing to promote HIV testing among MSM in China: study protocol for a stepped wedge randomized controlled trial

Background

HIV testing for marginalized populations is critical to controlling the HIV epidemic. However, the HIV testing rate among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China remains low. Crowdsourcing, the process of shifting individual tasks to a group, has been increasingly adopted in public health programs and may be a useful tool for spurring innovation in HIV testing campaigns. We designed a multi-site study to develop a crowdsourced HIV test promotion campaign and evaluate its effectiveness against conventional campaigns among MSM in China.

Methods

This study will use an adaptation of the stepped wedge, randomized controlled trial design. A total of eight major metropolitan cities in China will be randomized to sequentially initiate interventions at 3-month intervals. The intervention uses crowdsourcing at multiple steps to sustain crowd contribution. Approximately 1280 MSM, who are 16 years of age or over, live in the intervention city, have not been tested for HIV in the past 3 months, and are not living with HIV, will be recruited. Recruitment will take place through banner advertisements on a large gay dating app along with other social media platforms. Participants will complete one follow-up survey every 3 months for 12 months to evaluate their HIV testing uptake in the past 3 months and secondary outcomes including syphilis testing, sex without condoms, community engagement, testing stigma, and other related outcomes.

Discussion

MSM HIV testing rates remain poor in China. Innovative methods to promote HIV testing are urgently needed. With a large-scale, stepped wedge, randomized controlled trial our study can improve understanding of crowdsourcing’s long-term effectiveness in public health campaigns, expand HIV testing coverage among a key population, and inform intervention design in related public health fields.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02796963. Registered on 23 May 2016.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2183-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.