Department of Social Welfare, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, 3250 Public Affairs Building, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
J Urban Health. 2023 Dec;100(6):1264-1273. doi: 10.1007/s11524-023-00773-4. Epub 2023 Aug 14.
The 2022-2023 mpox outbreak has disproportionately impacted gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). The US CDC recommended individuals to explore safer sexual practices that minimize the potential risk of exposure and also strongly encouraged for eligible individuals to prioritize vaccination. This study aimed to analyze social media data related to mpox on Reddit since the mpox outbreak and identify themes associated with the impact on social behaviors and social processes among targeted population. Publicly available data were collected from the social media Reddit. We extracted the summarized mpox-related posts since the beginning of May 2022 from popular subreddits that were popular among GBMSM. We thematically analyzed the content to identify the overall themes related to the GBMSM's responses to the outbreak. There is an overall increase in the number of daily mpox-related posts, with three upticks in late May, late July, and early August 2022, which may correspond to the dates that the first mpox case was identified in the USA, the WHO declared a global public health emergency, and the US Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency. Four themes were identified: (1) changes in sexual behaviors and social activities; (2) mpox vaccine attitude, uptake, and hesitancy; (3) perceived and experienced stigma and homophobia, and mental distress; and (4) online information-seeking and mutual aid and support. GBMSM changed their sexual behaviors and social activities to mitigate their exposure to the virus during this outbreak and actively sought and shared information about mpox vaccination in their respective settings, while some were hesitant due to concerns about side effects and potential effectiveness. Perceived and experienced stigma and discrimination on gay- and same sex-identify have impacted GBMSM's mental health. Interventions to promote the mpox vaccine must address the historical medical mistrust and vaccine hesitancy among GBMSM.
2022-2023 年猴痘疫情 disproportionately 影响了男同性恋、双性恋和其他与男性发生性关系的男性（GBMSM）。美国疾病控制与预防中心建议个人探索更安全的性行为，将暴露的潜在风险降至最低，也强烈鼓励符合条件的个人优先接种疫苗。本研究旨在分析自猴痘疫情爆发以来，Reddit 上与猴痘相关的社交媒体数据，并确定与目标人群社会行为和社会进程相关的主题。从社交媒体 Reddit 上收集了公开可用的数据。我们从流行的 subreddit 中提取了自 2022 年 5 月初以来与猴痘相关的汇总帖子，这些 subreddit 在 GBMSM 中很受欢迎。我们对内容进行了主题分析，以确定与 GBMSM 对疫情反应相关的总体主题。与猴痘相关的帖子数量总体呈上升趋势，5 月下旬、7 月下旬和 8 月上旬出现了三次上升，这可能与美国首次确诊猴痘病例的日期、世界卫生组织宣布全球公共卫生紧急事件以及美国卫生与公众服务部宣布公共卫生紧急事件的日期相对应。确定了四个主题：（1）性行为和社会活动的变化；（2）猴痘疫苗态度、接种率和犹豫；（3）感知和经历的污名化和恐同、心理困扰；（4）在线信息搜索以及互助和支持。在这次疫情中，GBMSM 改变了他们的性行为和社会活动，以减轻他们接触病毒的风险，并在各自的环境中积极寻求和分享关于猴痘疫苗接种的信息，而一些人由于担心副作用和潜在效果而犹豫不决。对同性恋和同性身份的感知和经历的污名化和歧视影响了 GBMSM 的心理健康。促进猴痘疫苗接种的干预措施必须解决 GBMSM 中存在的历史医疗不信任和疫苗犹豫问题。
