University of Maryland School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA.
AIDS Behav. 2020 Jan;24(1):222-232. doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02646-x.
Despite the potential for sexual health communication to be leveraged for HIV prevention among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH), there has yet to be a rigorous examination of individual and network or relational characteristics associated with sexual health communication in this group of young people. Cross-sectional survey and social network data from 1014 YEH aged 14-25 recruited in Los Angeles, California, were utilized to assess individual and network or relational characteristics associated with communication regarding condom use and HIV testing among YEH. Results suggest that social networks are key to understanding sexual health communication; YEH's engagement in sexual health communication was significantly related to the composition of their networks. To increase testing and decrease new HIV cases, a prudent strategy would be to train existing social network members (e.g., staff members, home-based peers, or partners) as agents of change in naturally occurring social networks of YEH.
尽管性健康沟通有可能被利用来预防无家可归的青年（YEH）中的艾滋病毒，但尚未对与这一年轻人群体的性健康沟通相关的个体和网络或关系特征进行严格的检查。本研究使用了来自加利福尼亚州洛杉矶的 1014 名 14-25 岁 YEH 的横断面调查和社会网络数据，评估了与 YEH 之间有关避孕套使用和 HIV 检测的沟通相关的个体和网络或关系特征。结果表明，社交网络是理解性健康沟通的关键；YEH 进行性健康沟通与他们的网络构成有显著关系。为了增加检测并减少新的 HIV 病例，一个谨慎的策略是培训现有的社交网络成员（例如，工作人员、家庭为基础的同龄人或伴侣），将他们作为 YEH 自然发生的社交网络中变革的推动者。
