HIV-Positive Youth's Perspectives on the Internet and eHealth

Abstract

Background Globally, half of all new HIV infections occur among young people. Despite this incidence, there is a profound lack of resources for HIV-positive youth.Objective To investigate Internet access, use and acceptability as a means for health promotion and health service delivery among HIV-positive youth.Methods A community-based participatory approach was used to conduct a mixed methods research study. Thirty-five qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with youth (ages 12-24) living with HIV in Ontario. Also, brief structured demographic surveys were administered at the time of the interview. A stakeholder group of youth living with HIV, professionals and researchers collaboratively analyzed the data for emerging themes.Results Five main themes were identified with respect to the youth's use of and interest in the Internet as a health promotion strategy. These include: (1) high rates of Internet use and access; (2) issues around public and private terminals; (3) their use of the Internet primarily for communication and entertainment; (4) the rarity of health information seeking behavior in this group; and (5) wanting "one-stop shopping" from an e-health site. HIV-positive youth were enthusiastic about the possibility of content that was developed specifically to target them and their needs. Also, they were keen about the possibilities for increased social support that youth-specific online chat rooms and message boards might provide.Conclusion Given high rates of use, access and interest, the Internet provides an important way to reach young people living with HIV using health services and health promotion programs. The onus is on e-Health developers to understand the particular needs of HIV-positive youth and create relevant content.

Young Patients’ Views on the Open Web 2.0 Childhood Diabetes Patient Portal: A Qualitative Study

“…Their motivation for use strongly depended on getting a quick response and that the response came from a medical specialist [13]. Patients with long-term health issues may also consider other people's experiences, provided through personal stories, question and answer forums, or chat room facilities, as particularly good sources of practical information [3,5,31,34]. Regarding life with diabetes, there are many issues that cannot be solved from only a medical perspective but that demand practical experience, preferably that of a number of people.…”

“…Complementary to traditional authorities, new online resources, including peer contacts, may offer trustworthy information or add credibility to information [1]. Young people with long-term health problems like the concept of one site tailored to answer their questions; active forum discussion boards and chat rooms are perceived as attractions of great value [3][4][5]. Parents may inform other parents regarding a wide range of issues, as can adolescents and children, on their own level, based on their maturity and autonomy.…”

Online Sex-Seeking Behaviors Among Men Who have Sex with Men: Implications for Investigation and Intervention

“…These findings indicate that Internet-based intervention programs could encourage younger high-risk MSM to use condoms and reduce their numbers of sexual partners. Extremely common online sexseeking in confluence with high prevalence and incidence of HIV/syphilis/other STDs and high-risk behaviors among MSM in Beijing [2,5,6,8] highlighted the urgent need to harness the Internet as a medium of conducting HIV research, intervention, information delivery, education/ skills building, and health promotion in China [2,12,26,29,30,[38][39][40][41][42].…”

Sexual Risk Taking Among Young Internet-Using Men Who Have Sex With Men

“…There is a need and a demand for online health promotion [60][61][62] and disease prevention services, 22,37,[63][64][65][66] and the Internet creates an opportunity to access large numbers of otherwise difficult-to-reach and vulnerable people. 23 Existing online interventions include banner advertisements, 22 risk reduction Web sites, 67 chat room-based outreach efforts, 68,69 and interactive Web-based educational and skill-building modules.…”