Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2010 Jan-Feb;125 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):29-37. doi: 10.1177/00333549101250S105.
Chat room-based prevention interventions for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are being implemented to reduce the risk of HIV exposure, infection, and re-infection among men who have sex with men (MSM).
Our community-based participatory research partnership implemented a chat room-based intervention known as Cyber-Based Education and Referral/Men for Men (CyBER/M4M). We collected both quantitative and qualitative data to describe the characteristics of chat-room participants ("chatters") and their HIV risks and prevention needs, and to document intervention delivery.
Of the 1,851 chatters who participated in the 18-month intervention, 210 completed the online assessment. The mean age was 30 years. Although the majority self-identified as gay, 25.8% self-identified as bisexual. More than half self-identified as white and one-third as black or African American. A total of 8.6% reported being HIV-positive and 14.8% reported never having been tested for HIV. Grounded theory analysis of transcripts from chat-room instant-message discussions identified 13 thematic categories related to chatter characteristics, prevention needs, and intervention delivery. Chatters were looking for sexual partners, were not open about their orientation, lacked basic information about HIV, had questions about how to be tested, and perceived a lack of general community resources to meet their needs. Furthermore, CyBER educators had to understand and respect the online culture, build trust, and deliver well-crafted and focused messages.
Chat room-based interventions hold promise to systematically reach Internet communities of MSM, a group that is particularly at risk for infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
为了降低男男性行为者(MSM)暴露于、感染以及再次感染人类免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)的风险,正在实施基于聊天室的预防干预措施。
我们的社区参与式研究合作实施了一种基于聊天室的干预措施,称为基于网络的教育和转介/男性与男性(CyBER/M4M)。我们收集了定量和定性数据,以描述聊天室参与者(“聊天者”)的特征及其 HIV 风险和预防需求,并记录干预措施的实施情况。
在参与为期 18 个月的干预措施的 1851 名聊天者中,有 210 名完成了在线评估。平均年龄为 30 岁。尽管大多数人自我认同为同性恋者,但 25.8%的人自我认同为双性恋者。超过一半的人自我认同为白人,三分之一的人自我认同为黑人或非裔美国人。共有 8.6%的人报告 HIV 阳性,14.8%的人报告从未接受过 HIV 检测。对聊天室即时消息讨论的记录进行扎根理论分析,确定了与聊天者特征、预防需求和干预措施实施相关的 13 个主题类别。聊天者正在寻找性伴侣,对自己的性取向不公开,缺乏有关 HIV 的基本知识,对如何接受检测有疑问,并且认为缺乏满足其需求的一般社区资源。此外,CyBER 教育工作者必须了解并尊重网络文化,建立信任,并传递精心制作且重点突出的信息。
基于聊天室的干预措施有希望系统地覆盖 MSM 的互联网社区,该群体感染 HIV 和其他性传播疾病的风险特别高。