Using Facebook as a Platform to Direct Young Black Men Who Have Sex With Men to a Video-Based HIV Testing Intervention: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

Objective A randomized control pilot study was conducted with Black men who have sex with men (BMSM; N = 42) aged 18–30 years to examine the feasibility of implementing a video intervention delivered using Facebook to motivate HIV testing. Methods At baseline, participants were unaware of their HIV status and had not tested for HIV in the past 6 months, residing in Los Angeles County. The intervention content included topics such as social influence, HIV knowledge, stigma, HIV positive knowledge, and benefits of knowing one’s HIV status. Findings Logistic regression revealed that those receiving the video intervention were 7 times more likely to have tested for HIV than those in the control group at 6-week follow-up (odds ratio [OR] = 7.00, 95% confidence interval [1.72, 28.33], p = .006). Conclusion Data suggest that the intervention was feasible for motivating HIV testing.

Social Media Interventions to Promote HIV Testing, Linkage, Adherence, and Retention: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Of the 981 articles and abstracts, 26 studies met our inclusion criteria [ 26 - 51 ] ( Figure 1 ). Of the 26 studies, eight were RCTs [ 28 , 33 , 41 , 42 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 ] and 18 were observational studies [ 26 , 27 , 29 - 32 , 34 - 40 , 43 - 45 , 48 , 51 ] ( Table 1 ). These studies were implemented in 10 countries from 2007-2015 and published from 2011-2016.…”

“…These studies were implemented in 10 countries from 2007-2015 and published from 2011-2016. In total, 18 studies were from four high-income countries as defined by the World Bank [ 28 , 29 , 31 - 38 , 40 , 42 - 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 ], 10 studies were from the United States [ 28 , 33 - 35 , 38 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 47 , 50 ], five from the United Kingdom [ 29 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 48 ], two each from Australia [ 40 , 44 ], China [ 46 , 51 ], and Thailand [ 26 , 27 ], and one each from Taiwan [ 37 ], India [ 41 ], Peru [ 49 ], Mexico [ 30 ], and Guatemala [ 39 ]. The reach of social media interventions varied from 55 to over 17,000 individuals.…”

“…All of the included studies contained MSM populations, and five also covered transgender individuals [ 26 , 27 , 35 , 42 , 46 ]. In three studies, MSM with the following specific characteristics were included: young MSM [ 28 ], young black MSM [ 47 ], and MSM living with HIV [ 33 ].…”

Facebook and Twitter vaccine sentiment in response to measles outbreaks

“…Social media can be used to assess public discussions of health-related issues and behaviors (such as vaccination) and as a vehicle for disseminating public health information, health promotion messages, or other evidence-based interventions. 41,[89][90][91] In contrast, social media may also be a vehicle for the dissemination of views not supported by evidence. 51,92 We classified social media posts related to measles as vaccine hesitant or not and compared the frequency of such responses with the occurrence of measles in the United States.…”

“…[27][28][29][30] Public health and research organizations have also turned to social media as a form of digital public health surveillance to augment traditional methods of risk or disease monitoring [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] or as a communication tool. [39][40][41] A growing number of non-traditional sources for health information, including blogs and alternative news sites, are available online. [42][43][44][45][46] Examination of social media can provide insight into public discussion of vaccination 47 and may be predictive of geographical variation in vaccination compliance.…”