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      Acceptability and potential impact of delivering sexual health promotion information through social media and dating apps to MSM in England: a qualitative study

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          Abstract

          Background

          Increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in England is a pressing public health concern. Interventions targeting MSM, including information provision that effectively promotes sexual health, are needed. To support such intervention development, it is necessary to understand acceptable ways of delivering sexual health information. We explored the acceptability and potential uses and impacts of delivering sexual health information to MSM through social media and geosocial networking apps or dating apps.

          Methods

          Semi-structured interviews were conducted in person or by telephone with 25 MSM resident in England recruited via dating apps and social media advertisements. Interviews explored sexual health information sources, perceptions and uses. Attitudes towards sexual health promotion through social media and dating apps were then discussed. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.

          Results

          Sexual health information delivery through social media and dating apps was considered acceptable. Receiving information when browsing social media was viewed positively by most, as people have time to absorb information. In contrast, concerns were expressed that sharing or commenting on social media sexual health information may lead to judgements and discrimination. While social media reaches a high proportion of the population, dating apps can easily target MSM. However, tensions exist between the ability to provide information at an opportune time through dating apps, when users are connecting with new sexual partners, with the potential to adversely affect the app user’s experience. Hypothetical and actual uses and impacts of sexual health information ranged from no impact to reading information, sharing with peers, and increased awareness, to influencing healthcare-seeking, decision-making and risk-taking behaviours. Ensuring that information is engaging, positive in tone, not too clinical, focused on building social norms and delivered by trusted organisations were viewed as important for supporting its use.

          Conclusions

          Overall, these findings support the development of new interventions that use dating apps and social media for sexual health promotion.

          Electronic supplementary material

          The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7558-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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          Most cited references20

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          Using thematic analysis in psychology

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            Social media-delivered sexual health intervention: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

            Youth are using social media regularly and represent a group facing substantial risk for sexually transmitted infection (STI). Although there is evidence that the Internet can be used effectively in supporting healthy sexual behavior, this has not yet extended to social networking sites. To determine whether STI prevention messages delivered via Facebook are efficacious in preventing increases in sexual risk behavior at 2 and 6 months. Cluster RCT, October 2010-May 2011. Individuals (seeds) recruited in multiple settings (online, via newspaper ads and face-to-face) were asked to recruit three friends, who in turn recruited additional friends, extending three waves from the seed. Seeds and waves of friends were considered networks and exposed to either the intervention or control condition. Exposure to Just/Us, a Facebook page developed with youth input, or to control content on 18-24 News, a Facebook page with current events for 2 months. Condom use at last sex and proportion of sex acts protected by condoms. Repeated measures of nested data were used to model main effects of exposure to Just/Us and time by treatment interaction. A total of 1578 participants enrolled, with 14% Latino and 35% African-American; 75% of participants completed at least one study follow-up. Time by treatment effects were observed at 2 months for condom use (intervention 68% vs control 56%, p=0.04) and proportion of sex acts protected by condoms (intervention 63% vs control 57%, p=0.03) where intervention participation reduced the tendency for condom use to decrease over time. No effects were seen at 6 months. Social networking sites may be venues for efficacious health education interventions. More work is needed to understand what elements of social media are compelling, how network membership influences effects, and whether linking social media to clinical and social services can be beneficial. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.govNCT00725959. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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              Sex on demand: geosocial networking phone apps and risk of sexually transmitted infections among a cross-sectional sample of men who have sex with men in Los Angeles County.

              Geosocial networking applications (GSN apps) used for meeting sexual partners have become increasingly popular with men who have sex with men (MSM) since 2009. The current study aimed to determine if self-identified HIV-negative, MSM clinic attendees who used GSN apps have an increased incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) compared to self-identified HIV-negative, MSM attendees who met sexual partners via in-person venues, such as bars or clubs or through MSM-specific hook-up websites.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                (0117) 342 7274 , (0117) 3310008 , Jo.Kesten@bristol.ac.uk
                Kaiseree.Dias@bristol.ac.uk
                F.Burns@ucl.ac.uk
                Paul.Crook@phe.gov.uk
                Alison.Howarth@ucl.ac.uk
                C.Mercer@ucl.ac.uk
                Alison.rodger@ucl.ac.uk
                Ian.Simms@phe.gov.uk
                Isabel.Oliver@phe.gov.uk
                Matthew.Hickman@bristol.ac.uk
                Gwenda.Hughes@phe.gov.uk
                Peter.Weatherburn@lshtm.ac.uk
                Journal
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2458
                6 September 2019
                6 September 2019
                2019
                : 19
                : 1236
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7603, GRID grid.5337.2, The National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit on Evaluation of Interventions, , University of Bristol, ; Bristol, UK
                [2 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0380 7336, GRID grid.410421.2, The National Institute for Heatlh Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (NIHR CLAHRC West) at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, ; Bristol, UK
                [3 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7603, GRID grid.5337.2, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, , University of Bristol, ; Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
                [4 ]ISNI 0000000121901201, GRID grid.83440.3b, Institute for Global Health, University College London, ; London, UK
                [5 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0439 3380, GRID grid.437485.9, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, ; Pond St, Hampstead, London, NW3 2QG UK
                [6 ]ISNI 0000 0004 5909 016X, GRID grid.271308.f, Field Service, National Infection Service, Public Health England, ; London, UK
                [7 ]ISNI 0000 0004 5909 016X, GRID grid.271308.f, National Infection Service, Public Health England, ; London, UK
                [8 ]ISNI 0000000121901201, GRID grid.83440.3b, The National Institute for Health Research HPRU in Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections, , University College London, ; London, UK
                [9 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0425 469X, GRID grid.8991.9, Sigma Research, Public Health, Environments and Society, , London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, ; 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH UK
                Article
                7558
                10.1186/s12889-019-7558-7
                6728978
                31492120
                f2e14cbb-b44e-4880-8947-d7404a45a320
                © The Author(s). 2019

                Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 21 February 2019
                : 27 August 2019
                Funding
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000272, National Institute for Health Research;
                Award ID: N/A
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2019

                Public health
                qualitative research,acceptability,sexual health information,men-who-have-sex-with-men (msm),dating apps,social media

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