Using a crowdsourcing open call to generate hepatitis B and C stigma-reduction materials with medical students in China

BACKGROUND: Stigma among healthcare providers toward people living with hepatitis B and C can negatively impact quality of care and health outcomes. Stigmatizing perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors are common among trainees, but effective interventions and curricula to reduce stigma are lacking. Crowdsourcing asks a group to solve a public health problem and then share optimal solutions back to the community. We organized a crowdsourcing open call at Nanjing Medical University to generate stigma-reduction materials tailored to medical students. METHODS: We conducted a crowdsourcing open call informed by a World Health Organization practical guide. The open call involved four steps: (1) forming a stakeholder steering committee; (2) promoting the open call on campus; (3) screening and judging entries, which included text, posters, comics, or videos, in Chinese or English. Each submission was scored using prespecified criteria across five dimensions from one (poorest quality) to ten (highest quality) by three independent judges; (4) sharing and evaluating finalist ideas. Thematic analysis was applied to all entries. RESULTS: The open call was conducted from September 15 to October 15, 2023. Across online and offline channels, the recruitment materials received over 13,000 views. 170 students participated in the open call and 114 entries were collected, including nine videos, 54 posters or comics, and 51 text submissions. The average score across all entries was 7.3 and the four highest-scoring entries were developed into educational materials. Among all 170 participants, 24% had family or friends living with HBV or HCV and 38% had participated in volunteer activities related to hepatitis. Thematic analysis revealed five core themes: (1) legal rights and protections for people living with hepatitis; (2) hepatitis-related awareness enhancement; (3) social support for people living with hepatitis; (4) hepatitis-friendly healthcare system; and (5) stigma reduction through digital health platforms. CONCLUSION: This crowdsourcing initiative successfully engaged medical students in generating stigma-reduction materials, demonstrating its feasibility as a participatory approach to developing student-centered educational materials. Further research will focus on the effectiveness of these materials in hepatitis-related stigma reduction.