Gleason Neil, Serrano Pedro A, Muñoz Alejandro, French Audrey, Hosek Sybil
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center, Cook County Health, Chicago, IL, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2021 Nov 26;5(11):e30761. doi: 10.2196/30761.
HIV infection rates among sexual minority men and transgender individuals, particularly adolescents and young adults, remain elevated in the United States despite continued improvement in the HIV public health response. However, there remains a knowledge gap in understanding the barriers faced by this community in receiving HIV care and prevention resources. To address this, the Keeping it LITE study was conducted to assess HIV risk factors and barriers to preventive treatment in a large national cohort of young sexual minority men and transgender individuals at high risk of HIV infection.
This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of enrolling a large remote cohort, challenges encountered in recruitment, and adjustments made to address these challenges.
A large national cohort (n=3444) of young sexual minority men and transgender individuals were recruited. Participants were recruited via advertisements on social media; social apps for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals; print advertising; and word-of-mouth. Before enrolling, participants verified their HIV status using an at-home HIV test or by providing their own testing documentation. Descriptive statistics were generated, and a series of logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate demographic differences between recruitment methods, HIV testing methods, and enrollment status.
The Keeping it LITE study was particularly successful in recruiting participants via social media, with over half of the participants recruited from advertisements on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Participants were also recruited via word-of-mouth; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer apps (ie, Grindr, Scruff); and print advertisements, and participants recruited from these sources tended to be older and have a higher risk profile. The study was also successful in recruiting a large sample of transgender youth, particularly transgender men and nonbinary individuals. At-home HIV testing was acceptable and more heavily used by younger participants, although several barriers were encountered and overcome in the implementation of this testing. The study had more limited success in recruiting participants aged 13-17 years because of lower enrollment rates and barriers to advertising on social media platforms. The implications of these findings for the future development of HIV research and intervention protocols among sexual minorities and trans youth are discussed.
The methods used in the Keeping it LITE study, particularly recruitment via social media, were found to be feasible and acceptable to participants.
在美国，性少数男性和跨性别者（尤其是青少年和青年）中的艾滋病毒感染率仍然居高不下，尽管艾滋病毒公共卫生应对措施持续改进。然而，在了解该群体在获得艾滋病毒护理和预防资源方面面临的障碍方面，仍存在知识差距。为解决这一问题，开展了“保持轻松”（Keeping it LITE）研究，以评估一大群有高艾滋病毒感染风险的年轻性少数男性和跨性别者中的艾滋病毒危险因素及预防治疗障碍。
本研究旨在评估招募一个大型远程队列的可行性、招募过程中遇到的挑战以及为应对这些挑战所做的调整。
招募了一大群（n = 3444）年轻性少数男性和跨性别者。参与者通过社交媒体广告、面向女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和酷儿群体的社交应用程序、印刷广告以及口碑进行招募。在入组前，参与者使用家用艾滋病毒检测或提供自己的检测文件来核实其艾滋病毒状况。生成描述性统计数据，并进行一系列逻辑回归以评估招募方法、艾滋病毒检测方法和入组状态之间的人口统计学差异。
“保持轻松”研究在通过社交媒体招募参与者方面特别成功，超过一半的参与者是从脸书、照片墙和阅后即焚等社交媒体平台上的广告招募而来。参与者也通过口碑、面向女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和酷儿群体的应用程序（如Grindr、Scruff）以及印刷广告招募而来，从这些来源招募的参与者往往年龄较大且风险特征较高。该研究还成功招募了大量跨性别青年样本，尤其是跨性别男性和非二元性别个体。家用艾滋病毒检测是可以接受的，并且年轻参与者使用得更多，尽管在实施这种检测过程中遇到并克服了一些障碍。由于较低的入组率和在社交媒体平台上做广告的障碍，该研究在招募13 - 17岁参与者方面的成功率较低。讨论了这些发现对性少数群体和跨性别青年中艾滋病毒研究及干预方案未来发展的影响。
“保持轻松”研究中使用的方法，尤其是通过社交媒体进行招募，被发现对参与者来说是可行且可接受的。
