Role of Social Media and Mobile Apps in Sexual and Drug Co-Usage Networks of MSM

社交媒体和移动应用程序在 MSM 性和药物共同使用网络中的作用

• 批准号: 9135070
• 负责人: April Marie Young
• 金额: $ 15.26万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9135070
• 关键词: Accounting; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; Alcohols; Appalachian Region; Area; Behavior; Cellular Phone; Cities; Collection; Communities; Cybersex; Data; Drug usage; Goals; HIV; HIV Infections; HIV risk; HIV/HCV; HIV/STD; Health; Hornets; Individual; Infection; Internet; Intervention; Joints; Knowledge; Location; Measures; Names; Nature; Network-based; Online Systems; Participant; Pattern; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Play; Prevalence; Prevention; Recruitment Activity; Reporting; Research; Risk; Risk Behaviors; Risk Reduction; Role; Rural; Sampling; Sex Behavior; Sexual Partners; Social Environment; Social Network; Structure; Technology; Travel; United States; Unsafe Sex; base; behavior measurement; experience; high risk; illicit drug use; innovation; meetings; men who have sex with men; mobile application; public health relevance; response; seroconversion; sex; sex risk; sexual encounter; sexual relationship; social media; social stigma; spatial integration; tool; transmission process; urban area; virtual; web app

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this proposal is to examine the overlap in the sexual and drug co-usage networks of men who have sex with men (MSM) and to overlay information about sexual partnerships facilitated by the use of social networking applications (e.g., Grindr, Scruff, etc.) to determine the relationship between app use and network-level patterns of HIV risk behavior. Many MSM are using social media and/or smartphone applications ("apps") to meet sex partners, and evidence suggests that use of these apps is associated with increased sexual risk behavior and possibly drug use, although research on the latter is scarce. Unfortunately, network- based research in this area has focused almost exclusively on sexual networks; thus, little is known about the interaction of MSM sexual- and drug-related risk networks and how network structure is influenced by the use of mobile apps. Moreover, previous studies generally have lacked necessary detail about partnerships to be able to determine the interconnectivity of relationships. Finally, the overwhelming majority of studies on MSM app use have been conducted in large urban areas, despite research indicating that similar patterns of online- and app-based sex-seeking occur among MSM in rural and mid-sized cities. The gap in knowledge is notable considering evidence suggesting that rural MSM experiencing stigma and isolation often use the Internet to find sex partners and travel to/from nearby urban areas to meet them. The proposed study will be conducted in a mid-sized city in the South in close proximity to rural Central Appalachia. The study was developed in response to the need for more integrative network-level research on app use and the drug co-usage and sexual relationships of MSM residing outside of large urban areas. Through the use of a name generator and collection of detailed demographic information about partners, the proposed study will allow inferences to be drawn about overlap in sexual and drug co-usage partnerships in a network structure representing the direct and indirect connections among all participants and their partners (i.e., a sociometric network). The network will reveal the relationship between app use and co-occurrence of drug and sexual partnerships and, through the integration of spatial data on locations of sexual encounters, will permit examination of the relationships among risk behavior, network structure, and spatial context. Identifying "high-risk" spatial locations and network structures will be critical in determining ho best to reach MSM using combined geo-targeted and network- driven approaches as well as app- or web-based technologies.

 描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的总体目标是检查男男性行为者（MSM）的性和药物共同使用网络的重叠，并叠加有关使用社交网络应用程序（例如，研磨、擦洗等）以确定应用程序使用与网络层面的艾滋病毒风险行为模式之间的关系。许多男男性行为者使用社交媒体和/或智能手机应用程序（“应用程序”）来满足性伴侣，有证据表明，使用这些应用程序与增加的性风险行为和可能的药物使用有关，尽管对后者的研究很少。不幸的是，这一领域基于网络的研究几乎完全集中在性网络上;因此，对MSM性和毒品相关风险网络的相互作用以及网络结构如何受到移动的应用程序的影响知之甚少。此外，以往的研究一般缺乏必要的细节，伙伴关系，以能够确定的相互联系的关系。最后，绝大多数关于MSM应用程序使用的研究都是在大城市地区进行的，尽管研究表明，在农村和中等城市的MSM中，基于在线和应用程序的性寻求模式类似。考虑到有证据表明，经历耻辱和孤立的农村男男性行为者经常使用互联网寻找性伴侣，并往返附近的城市地区与他们见面，知识上的差距值得注意。拟议的研究将在南部靠近阿巴拉契亚中部农村的一个中型城市进行。该研究是为了响应对居住在大城市地区以外的MSM的应用程序使用和药物共同使用和性关系进行更综合的网络级研究的需求而开发的。通过使用名称生成器和收集有关伙伴的详细人口统计信息，拟议的研究将允许推断在代表所有参与者及其伙伴之间直接和间接联系的网络结构中性和药物共同使用伙伴关系的重叠（即，社会计量网络）。该网络将揭示应用程序使用与毒品和性伴侣关系共存之间的关系，并通过整合性接触地点的空间数据，将允许检查风险行为，网络结构和空间背景之间的关系。确定“高风险”的空间位置和网络结构对于确定如何利用地理定位和网络驱动相结合的方法以及基于应用程序或网络的技术最好地接触男男性行为者至关重要。