A Novel Online Intervention to Reduce Sexual Risk Among Men Who Meet Men Online

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Increasing HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) is cause for serious concern. New HIV infections in MSM have been attributed to factors including safer sex fatigue, HIV treatment optimism, drug use, and easy access to sex partners via Internet hook-up sites. The purpose of this proposed project entitled, A Novel Online Intervention to Reduce Sexual Risk among Men who Meet Men Online, is to assess the feasibility of developing and implementing an innovative online randomized HIV behavioral risk intervention using digital video vignettes. The target population of interest for this proposed online intervention is men who have sex with men (MSM) who meet male sex partners online. Men who seek sex online are more likely to report a sexually transmitted infection (STI), have sexual encounters with HIV-positive partners, and to self-identify as being white and homosexual, compared to men who do not seek sex online. We recently conducted an online pilot intervention and were successful at recruiting and following a convenience sample of MSM participants online, using a single-group, pre-post test design. Between baseline and 3-month follow-up, we found significant increases in HIV disclosure to new sex partners and HIV testing. Based on the success of our pilot data, we request funding to test the feasibility of developing and implementing a 4-branch, randomized control design, with a pre-post test and 30-day follow-up, to be implemented online, including the ABC components. We hypothesize that a brief online behavioral intervention using digital videos, which are meant to elicit critical thinking and attitude and behavior change, will yield a reduction in sexual transmission risk, and increase HIV testing and HIV disclosure to sexual partners to varying degrees among MSM who meet male sex partners online. If successful, this type of novel intervention will be efficient, cost-effective, feasible to replicate online, and especially useful in overcoming geographic boundaries, such as reaching men in rural areas or other hard-to-reach populations.