Participation in Online and Offline HIV Prevention Among Men who have Sex with Men who use the Internet to Meet Sex Partners in New York City

Abstract

This report presents data on participation in online or offline prevention activities among a sample of New York City men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited online between April-August of 2007 who use the Internet to meet sex partners. The analysis focuses on the 1,124 men who reported sex with a main or casual partner in the past 12 months. Over half (53%) of the MSM reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in the past year. Data from our multivariate analysis indicate that MSM who participate in online or offline prevention activities were less likely to engage in UAI.

Sociodemographic and sexual behavior characteristics of an online MSM sample in Guangdong, China

“…Our findings reveal similar distributions in terms of age, education, and income as observed in the Western literature: respondents are young (more than one-third were less than 30 years in age), educated, and relatively financially secure (Navejas, Neaigus, Torian, & Murrill, 2012). However, participants from this online sample are less likely to self-identify as homosexual than their Western counterparts.…”

“…Yet, almost half of the respondents had never been tested for HIV or other STIs, a high proportion compared to Western studies. Furthermore, only some one-third of the respondents reported being tested for HIV or other STIs within the past year, lower than Western MSM (Khosropour & Sullivan, 2011; Navejas et al, 2012). Perhaps, exposure to previous Internet-based interventions (e.g., online sex education and sexual health promotion advertisements) in our sample may explain increased condom use in the last anal sex with men among the participants.…”

HIV Testing Among Internet-Using MSM in the United States: Systematic Review

“…These 32 studies, that enrolled a total of 83,186 Internet-using MSM, comprised the evidence base for this systematic review [23–55]. (Two publications report the same study [53, 54]. ) Table 2 provides a brief summary of all 32 included (and further details of the included studies are presented in Supplement Table 7).…”

Recruiting a US National Sample of HIV-Negative Gay and Bisexual Men to Complete at-Home Self-Administered HIV/STI Testing and Surveys: Challenges and Opportunities

“…This includes using the Internet to identify and enroll participants for facilitated assessments (Bauermeister, Carballo-Dieguez, Ventuneac, & Dolezal, 2009; Carballo-Diéguez et al, 2011; Grov, Agyemang, Ventuneac, & Breslow, 2013; Grov, Rendina, & Parsons, 2014; Hernandez-Romieu et al., 2014; Hightow-Weidman et al, 2015; Hirshfield, Remien, Humberstone, Walavalkar, & Chiasson, 2004; Lelutiu-Weinberger et al, 2014; Mitchell & Petroll, 2013; Pachankis, Rendina, Ventuneac, Grov, & Parsons, 2014; Parsons, Vial, Starks, & Golub, 2013; Vial, Starks, & Parsons, 2014, 2015), identify and enroll participants for facilitated interventions (Adam et al, 2011; Khosropour, Johnson, Ricca, & Sullivan, 2013; Martinez et al, 2014; Parsons et al., 2013; Whiteley et al, 2012), conducting fully online studies (i.e. assessments and recruitment) (Adam et al, 2011; Bull, Lloyd, Rietmeijer, & McFarlane, 2004; Carpenter, Stoner, Mikko, Dhanak, & Parsons, 2009; Chiasson et al, 2005; Chiasson, Shuchat Shaw, Humberstone, Hirshfield, & Hartel, 2009; Christensen et al, 2013; Coleman et al, 2010; Gass, Hoff, Stephenson, & Sullivan, 2012; Greacen et al, 2013; Grov, Rendina, Breslow, et al, 2014; Grov, Rendina, Ventuneac, & Parsons, 2013; Grov, Rodriguez-Diaz, Ditmore, Restar, & Parsons, 2014; Hirshfield et al, 2010; Hirshfield, Grov, Parsons, Anderson, & Chiasson, 2015; Hirshfield et al, 2008; Holloway, Rice, et al, 2014; Jain & Ross, 2008; Marcus, Hickson, Weatherburn, & Schmidt, 2013; Matthews, Stephenson, & Sullivan, 2012; Mitchell & Petroll, 2012; Mustanski, Greene, Ryan, & Whitton, 2015; Mustanski, Rendina, Greene, Sullivan, & Parsons, 2014; Navejas, Neaigus, Torian, & Murrill, 2012; Oldenburg et al, 2015; Reece et al, 2010; Rendina, Breslow, et al, 2014; Rendina, Jimenez, Grov, Ventuneac, & Parsons, 2014; Rosenberg, Rothenberg, Kleinbaum, Stephenson, & Sullivan, 2013; Rosenmann & Safir, 2007; Rosser et al, 2009; Rosser et al, 2010; Sharma, Sullivan, & Khosropour, 2011; Siegler, Sullivan, Khosropour, & Rosenberg, 2013; Sineath et al, 2013; …”

“…For online recruitment, a number of researchers have enrolled geographically, racially, and ethnically diverse samples of GBM from across the U.S. using only social networking (e.g., Facebook, Myspace) and/or gay news/interest sites (e.g., gay.com, poz.com) (Adam et al, 2011; Chiasson et al, 2005; Christensen et al, 2013; Coleman et al, 2010; Gass et al, 2012; Hirshfield et al., 2015; Hirshfield et al, 2004; Hirshfield et al, 2008; Holloway, Dunlap, et al, 2014; Horvath, Beadnell, & Bowen, 2006; Jain & Ross, 2008; Khosropour & Sullivan, 2011; Matthews et al, 2012; Mitchell & Petroll, 2012; Mustanski et al, 2015; Navejas et al, 2012; Reece et al, 2010; Rosser et al, 2009; Sharma, Stephenson, White, & Sullivan, 2014; Sharma et al, 2011; Sullivan et al, 2011; Wagenaar et al., 2013; Wagenaar et al, 2012; Wall et al, 2013). Others have enrolled diverse samples across the U.S. identified, either entirely or at least in part, via partnerships with gay sexual networking (i.e., hook up) websites and mobile device applications (apps) (Bull et al, 2004; Burrell et al, 2012; Carpenter et al, 2009; Chiasson et al, 2009; Delaney, Kramer, Waller, Flanders, & Sullivan, 2014; Grov, Rendina, Breslow, et al, 2014; Grov, Rendina, et al, 2013; Grov, Rodriguez-Diaz, et al, 2014; Hirshfield et al, 2010; Khosropour et al, 2013; Lelutiu-Weinberger et al, 2014; Oldenburg et al, 2015; Rendina, Breslow, et al, 2014; Rosenberg et al, 2013; Siegler et al, 2013; Sineath et al, 2013).…”