HIV Behavioral Research Online

Abstract

Internet access has caused a global revolution in the way people of all ages and genders interact. Many have turned to the Internet to seek love, companionship, and sex, prompting researchers to move behavioral studies online. The sexual behavior of men who have sex with men (MSM) has been more closely studied than that of any other group online given the abundance of gay-oriented websites and concerns about increasing transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Not only does the Internet provide a new medium for the conduct of behavioral research and for participant recruitment into an array of research studies, it has the as yet unrealized potential to reach huge numbers of MSM with innovative harm reduction and prevention messages tailored to individualized needs, interests, and risk behavior. Internet-based research on sexual behavior has many advantages in rapidity of recruitment of diverse samples which include individuals unreachable through conventional methods (i.e., non-gay identified and geographically and socially isolated MSM, etc.). Internet-based research also presents some new methodologic challenges in study design, participant recruitment, survey implementation, and interpretation of results. In addition, there are ethical issues unique to online research including difficulties in verifying informed consent, obstacles to surveying minors, and the ability to assure anonymity. This paper presents a review of Internet-based research on sexual behavior in MSM, a general discussion of the methodologic and ethical challenges of Internet-based research, and recommendations for future interdisciplinary research.

Do men who have sex with men use serosorting with casual partners in France? Results of a nationwide survey (ANRS-EN17-Presse Gay 2004)

“…The use of Internet to meet sexual partners was associated with serosorting for HIV-seropositive respondents, as reported in some studies [15,17,31]. Indeed, it may be easier to disclose one's HIV seropositivity to potential sexual partners during online encounters, especially on "positive-seeking-positive" websites [18].…”

Inquérito sociocomportamental sobre as práticas sexuais desprotegidas entre homens que fazem sexo com homens usuários da Internet

“…Na literatura internacional, estudos que coletaram dados na internet e em locais de sociabilidade gay também encontraram associações similares 1,2,5,7,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]29,30 . Alguns desses estudos compararam grupos de HSH soropositivo e negativo para HIV, analisando o sexo anal insertivo sem o uso do preservativo e sexo com parceiro sorodiscordante, e nestes estudos, o grupo que recruta parceiros sexuais na internet apresentou maior risco de envolvimento em práticas sexuais desprotegidas [5][6][7]23,26 .…”

Use of Technology and Social Networking in HIV Prevention

“…In the past decade, the Internet has been increasingly utilized as a means to seek romantic and sex partners (Chiasson et al 2006;Liau et al 2006), replacing other traditional venues for meeting partners such as neighborhoods, friends, and the workplace (Ross 2005;Rosenfeld and Thomas 2012). Indeed, a large US study (Cooper et al 2002) found that 9.8 % of the people using the Internet for online sexual activities were also using it to find people to date.…”

“…Compared to other groups, MSM utilize the Internet as a primary means for sexual and romantic partners. Chiasson et al (2006) noted in their review article that MSM who use the Internet to find sex partners are younger, are more likely to frequent public and commercial sex environments, do not identify as gay, report sex with women, and are more likely to have a previous sexually transmitted infection (STI) compared to MSM who do not use the Internet to find sex partners. More recently, researchers have begun to explore heterosexuals' use of the Internet for seeking sexual partners.…”

“…Most of the research conducted on Internet-mediated sexual behavior, so far, has focused on MSM (Chiasson et al 2006). In their meta-analytic review article of online sex-seeking MSM, Liau et al (2006) reported that 40 % of MSM use the Internet to look for sex partners, and those who seek sexual partnerships online have riskier sexual behavior profiles than their counterparts who do not use the Internet to meet partners.…”