Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2021 Dec 1;88(4):366-375. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002777.
US Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM) are a group at highest risk for HIV. One driver of HIV among LMSM is inadequate access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) information. The social network theory of homophily suggests that sharing similar sociodemographic factors could influence PrEP conversations within networks. This study aimed to determine how the effects of homophily across sociodemographic, immigration, cultural, and PrEP-related factors are associated with PrEP-related communication.
This study was conducted in Miami-Dade County, FL.
Data collected between August 2018 and October 2019 included 10 sociocentric friendship groups of 13 LMSM (N = 130). Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling by a community-based organization in Miami. We used the multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure to identify the effects of homophily and relationship characteristics on PrEP-related conversations using R software.
More frequent PrEP-related conversations were associated with dyadic friendships characterized by homophily on knowledge of PrEP effectiveness, heterophily on depressive symptom severity, home addresses proximity, friend closeness, and interaction frequency. Past PrEP-related conversation frequency also increased based on heterophily on the Latino cultural value of familism (ie, emotional support to family). Racial homophily, heterophily on severity of depressive symptoms, home addresses proximity, friendship closeness, and frequency of interactions increased likelihood to encourage a friend to use PrEP.
Social and spatial closeness and homophily play a role in PrEP-related conversations. Information from social networks contextualized in geographic settings can be elucidated to contribute toward the design of novel opportunities to end HIV.
与男性发生性关系的美国拉丁裔男同性恋者（LMSM）是感染艾滋病毒风险最高的群体之一。LMSM 感染艾滋病毒的一个驱动因素是获得预防暴露前药物（PrEP）信息不足。同质性的社会网络理论表明，共享相似的社会人口统计学因素可能会影响网络中的 PrEP 对话。本研究旨在确定同质性对社会人口统计学、移民、文化和 PrEP 相关因素的影响如何与 PrEP 相关的沟通相关。
本研究在佛罗里达州迈阿密-戴德县进行。
2018 年 8 月至 2019 年 10 月期间收集的数据包括 13 名 LMSM 的 10 个社会中心友谊群体（N=130）。参与者通过迈阿密的一个社区组织使用回应驱动的抽样方法招募。我们使用 R 软件中的多元回归二次分配程序，根据同质性和关系特征识别 PrEP 相关对话的影响。
更频繁的 PrEP 相关对话与具有 PrEP 效果知识同质性、抑郁症状严重程度异质性、家庭住址接近、朋友亲密和互动频率高的二元友谊特征相关。过去 PrEP 相关对话的频率也会因拉丁文化家庭主义价值观（即向家庭提供情感支持）的异质性而增加。种族同质性、抑郁症状严重程度异质性、家庭住址接近、友谊亲密和互动频率增加了鼓励朋友使用 PrEP 的可能性。
社会和空间的接近性和同质性在 PrEP 相关对话中发挥作用。可以阐明来自地理环境的社交网络信息，为设计新颖的机会以结束艾滋病毒做出贡献。
