General and health-related Internet use among an urban, community-based sample of HIV-positive women: implications for intervention development

Abstract

Internet-based HIV interventions are increasingly common, although little focus has been on HIV-positive women. To understand the feasibility of using the Internet to deliver behavioral interventions to HIV-positive women, we sought to describe patterns of Internet use for general and health-related purposes and to explore differences between Internet-using and non-using women. From February 2014 to April 2014, 103 women were recruited at six community-based organizations in the Bronx, NY that provide services to HIV-positive persons. Women completed a 30-minute interview and answered a brief survey of socio-demographic factors, risk behavior and clinical characteristics. We performed χ2 and Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare Internet users and non-users. Sixty-one percent of participants were current Internet users, most of whom used a personal electronic device (e.g., cellphone/smartphone) to access the Internet. While higher proportions of Internet users were passively engaged (e.g., signed up to receive email updates [42.9%] or watched an online video [58.7%] for health-related purposes), smaller proportions (12.7–15.9%) were involved in more interactive activities such as posting comments, questions, or information about health-related issues in an online discussion or a blog. A majority of Internet non-users (60.0%) expressed interest in going online. Lack of computer or Internet access (37.5%) and Internet navigation skills (37.5%) were the primary reasons for non-use. Compared with non-users, Internet users were more likely to be younger, to have higher socioeconomic status, and to report low health-related social support. Despite having a lower proportion of Internet users in our study than the general population, Internet-using women in our study had relatively high levels of online engagement and went online for both general and health-related purposes. However, Internet-based interventions targeting HIV-positive women will likely need to include providing computer and/or Internet access as well as training participants in how to navigate the Internet.

Exploring the Measurement Properties of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) Among Baby Boomers: A Multinational Test of Measurement Invariance

“…The eHEALS has also been used with a wide variety of samples, including schoolchildren and adolescents [13,45,52,56,64,66,67], parents [48,69], university students [23,42], adults comprising different age groups of a wide age range [16,58,60] and adults comprising solely older generations [34,43,54], as well as veterans [46,70], patients [44,49-51,53,71], caregivers [47], and health service providers [21,59]. The scale has been used with very small (<100) sample sizes [34,42,43,45,59], as well as studies comprising several thousand respondents [48,58,60,66].…”

Social Media Usage for Patients and Healthcare Consumers: A Literature Review

“…Several studies showed that the information on this platform was not regulated and contains both high-and low-quality health information. This resulted in misinformation or disinformation for individuals seeking online healthcare information [37][38][39][40][41][42][43].…”

Recent Evidence for Emerging Digital Technologies to Support Global HIV Engagement in Care

“…One Latin American study assessed feasibility of mHealth among trans-gender women and men who have sex with men living with HIV in Lima, Peru [46]. Two American studies published early results on technology use patterns and feasibility of technology interventions for HIV care and support among women in the Bronx, New York [47, 48]. Also in New York, researchers performed a content analysis of online interactions in a Facebook group for young people aged 16–25 living with HIV, observing that group participants frequently sought out social support in this context [49].…”