Social Media–Delivered Sexual Health Intervention

Abstract

Background 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 hasn't yet extended to social networking sites. Purpose To determine whether STI prevention messages delivered via Facebook are efficacious in preventing increases in sexual risk behavior at 2 and 6 months. Design Cluster RCT, October 2010–May 2011. Setting/participants 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. Intervention 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. Main outcome measures 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. Results 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. Conclusions 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. Trial registration This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00725959.

Brief interventions to prevent sexually transmitted infections suitable for in-service use: A systematic review

“…Consequently, we included interventions involving no more than three hours of contact time that aimed to reduce STI rates and/or increase STI test uptake and/or change STI-risk behavior patterns and had been evaluated using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We noted the mode of delivery used and the change techniques incorporated in each intervention (9,10).…”

Interventions to Improve Adolescent Vaccination

“…Surprisingly, exposure to "positive" blogs had no effect when compared with controls. This work, combined with that focused on vaccination in other populations, [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74] supports the notion that web-based social media can play a powerful role in mediating vaccination intentions and decisions.…”

Social Media Use and HIV-Related Risk Behaviors in Young Black and Latino Gay and Bi Men and Transgender Individuals in New York City: Implications for Online Interventions

“…8,37 Given that we found high rates of access to and use of social media and the Internet by low-income YMCSM and transgender women, groups most vulnerable to HIV in the USA, social media may be a particularly effective and efficient tool for reaching and engaging this population in health-related interventions. 38 Although many studies of Internet-based behavioral interventions for HIV have been published, 39 only a handful of social media-based HIV interventions exists 9,10,[40][41][42][43] with several more in the pipeline. 12 Behavioral interventions leveraging online social networks have the potential to affect population health dramatically, given their capacity to disseminate information virally, facilitate social support, and modify norms.…”

“…[9][10][11][12] The use of social media among adolescents and young adults is nearly universal, 13 with 92 % of adolescents connecting to the Internet daily and about 24 % reporting using the Internet Balmost constantly.^1 4 Results of national and urban surveys indicate that MSM are more likely to use social media to seek sexual and/or romantic partners when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. [15][16][17] A growing body of literature exists that has specifically examined social media use and HIV risk behaviors and/or STIs among MSM and transgender populations; in general, these studies indicate a positive association between social media use for partner seeking and HIV risk behaviors.…”