Sexual health influencer distribution of HIV/syphilis self-tests among men who have sex with men in china: secondary analysis to inform community-based interventions

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dc.contributor.authorYang, Nancy
dc.contributor.authorWu, Dan
dc.contributor.authorZhou, Yi
dc.contributor.authorHuang, Shanzi
dc.contributor.authorTucker, Joseph
dc.contributor.authorLi, Xiaofeng
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Kumi M.
dc.contributor.authorJiang, Xiaohui
dc.contributor.authorWang, Yehua
dc.contributor.authorHuang, Wenting
dc.contributor.authorFu, Hongyun
dc.contributor.authorBao, Huanyu
dc.contributor.authorJiang, Hongbo
dc.contributor.authorDai, Wencan
dc.contributor.authorTang, Weiming
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-13T06:47:06Z
dc.date.available2022-12-13T06:47:06Z
dc.date.issued2021-06-01
dc.description.abstractBackground: Social network–based strategies can expand HIV/syphilis self-tests among men who have sex with men (MSM). Sexual health influencers are individuals who are particularly capable of spreading information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within their social networks. However, it remains unknown whether a sexual health influencer can encourage their peers to self-test for HIV/syphilis. Objective: The aims of this study were to examine the impact of MSM sexual health influencers on improving HIV/syphilis self-test uptake within their social networks compared to that of nonsexual health influencers. Methods: In Zhuhai, China, men 16 years or older, born biologically male, who reported ever having had sex with a man, and applying for HIV/syphilis self-tests were enrolled online as indexes and encouraged to distribute self-tests to individuals (alters) in their social network. Indexes scoring >3 on a sexual health influencer scale were considered to be sexual health influencers (Cronbach α=.87). The primary outcome was the mean number of alters encouraged to test per index for sexual health influencers compared with the number encouraged by noninfluencers. Results: Participants included 371 indexes and 278 alters. Among indexes, 77 (20.8%) were sexual health influencers and 294 (79.2%) were noninfluencers. On average, each sexual health influencer successfully encouraged 1.66 alters to self-test compared to 0.51 alters encouraged by each noninfluencer (adjusted rate ratio 2.07, 95% CI 1.59-2.69). More sexual health influencers disclosed their sexual orientation (80.5% vs 67.3%, P=.02) and were community-based organization volunteers (18.2% vs 2.7%, P<.001) than noninfluencers. More alters of sexual health influencers came from a rural area (45.5% vs 23.8%, P<.001), had below-college education (57.7% vs 37.1%, P<.001), and had multiple casual male sexual partners in the past 6 months (25.2% vs 11.9%, P<.001). Conclusions: Being a sexual health influencer was associated with encouraging more alters with less testing access to self-test for HIV/syphilis. Sexual health influencers can be engaged as seeds to expand HIV/syphilis testing coverage.en_US
dc.identifier.citationYang, N., Wu, D., Zhou, Y., Huang, S., He, X., Tucker, J., Li, X., Smith, K. M., Jiang, X., Wang, Y., Huang, W., Fu, H., Bao, H., Jiang, H., Dai, W., & Tang, W. (2021). Sexual Health Influencer Distribution of HIV/Syphilis Self-Tests Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Secondary Analysis to Inform Community-Based Interventions. Journal of medical Internet research, 23(6), e24303. https://doi.org/10.2196/24303en_US
dc.identifier.otherDOI: 10.2196/24303
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14041/4616
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherJournal of Medical Internet Researchen_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectSexual Health Influencersen_US
dc.subjectMen Who Have Sex With Menen_US
dc.subjectHIVen_US
dc.subjectSyphilisen_US
dc.subjectSelf-Testen_US
dc.subjectSexual Healthen_US
dc.subjectInfluenceren_US
dc.subjectSocial Networksen_US
dc.subjectPeersen_US
dc.titleSexual health influencer distribution of HIV/syphilis self-tests among men who have sex with men in china: secondary analysis to inform community-based interventionsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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