High levels of HIV stigma are
one of the main difficulties in engaging African-American and Latino men who
have sex with men (MSM) in HIV testing. The availability of home HIV test and
the possibility of self-testing in private may improve uptake and counteract
stigma. This paper sought to determine the correlates of requesting home HIV
test kits among a sample of MSM social media users.
The odds of participants
requesting a test kit were significantly associated with using social networks
to seek sexual partners (aOR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.07-6.06) and thinking it is
easier to use social networks for seeking sexual partners (1.87, 1.2-3.12),
uncertain HIV status (4.29, 1.37-14.4), and having sex under the influence of
alcohol (2.46, 1.06-5.77). Participants who had not been tested for more than 6
months were more likely to request a test kit than those who were tested in the
past 6 months (2.53, 1.02-6.37). Participants who frequently talked to others
about having sex with men online were less likely to request a test kit (0.73,
0.56-0.92).
By reaching people over social media and offering them access to
test kits, we were able to reach at-risk individuals who were uncertain about
their HIV status and had not been regularly tested. The findings of the study
will help to inform future HIV testing interventions.
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1a Department of Family Medicine , University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) , Los Angeles , CA , USA
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