title: Online and offline sexual health-seeking patterns of HIV-negative men who have sex with men.
abstract: To inform health information targeting, we used cross-sectional data from 2577 HIV-negative MSM to identify groups of men who access similar sources. Offline, more men reported talking to a physician about HIV than about having sex with men; fewer than half attended a safer sex workshop. Online, men sought information primarily through Internet search engines, GLBT websites, or health websites. A latent class analysis identified four groups of health seekers: minimal health seekers, those who accessed online sources only, those who sought information mostly from health professionals, and those who sought information from diverse sources. Minimal health seekers, 9% of the sample, were the group of greatest concern. They engaged in unprotected anal sex with multiple partners but infrequently testing for HIV or sought sexual health information. By encouraging health seeking from diverse sources, opportunities exist to increase men's knowledge of HIV/STI prevention and, when necessary, access to medical care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA. wilke177@umn.edu
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wilkerson
authors.forename: Derek J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Smolenski
authors.forename: Keith J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Horvath
authors.forename: Gene P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Danilenko
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Simon Rosser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
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