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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Scott Rhodes, PhD, MPH, CHES, Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Public Health Sciences, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063, 336-713-5080, srhodes@wfubmc.edu, Kenneth Hergenrather, PhD, MSEd, MRC, Department of Counseling/Human and Organizational Studies, The George Washington University, 2134 G Street, NW, #318, Washington, DC 20052, Barry Ramsey, University of North Carolina, Center for AIDS Research, Lineberger Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, Leland Yee, PhD, MPH, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Epidemiology, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, and Aimee Wilkin, MD, MPH, Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157.

Background: Chat room-based HIV prevention interventions are being implemented to reduce the risk of HIV exposure, infection, and re-infection among men who have sex with men (MSM). However, little is known about how participants in chat room-based prevention interventions differ from their online nonparticipating peers. This analysis compared the baseline risk profiles of participants in an HIV prevention intervention (“active recruitment”) to their chat-room peers who did not participate in the intervention (“passive recruitment”).

Methods: Data were collected using an online brief risk assessment from MSM (N=448) who were recruited within internet chat rooms.

Results: Mean age was 30 years. Half self-identified as Black or African American, 29% as white, and 64% as gay. Compared to participants, non-participants were more likely to report: spending higher mean number of hours in online chat rooms; using condoms inconsistently during anal intercourse with a man met online during the past 3 months; having had an STD; being HIV seropositive; using methamphetamines during the past 30 days; and using drugs for erectile dysfunction during the past 30 days.

Conclusions: Although risk among MSM who use chat rooms remains high, those at greater risk may be those who are less likely to engage in online HIV prevention interventions.

Learning Objectives: