Hombres Sanos: evaluation of a social marketing campaign for heterosexually identified Latino men who have sex with men and women.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the effectiveness of Hombres Sanos [Healthy Men] a social marketing campaign to increase condom use and HIV testing among heterosexually identified Latino men, especially among heterosexually identified Latino men who have sex with men and women (MSMW).


METHODS
Hombres Sanos was implemented in northern San Diego County, California, from June 2006 through December 2006. Every other month we conducted cross-sectional surveys with independent samples of heterosexually identified Latino men before (n = 626), during (n = 752), and after (n = 385) the campaign. Respondents were randomly selected from 12 targeted community venues to complete an anonymous, self-administered survey on sexual practices and testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. About 5.6% of respondents (n = 98) were heterosexually identified Latino MSMW.


RESULTS
The intervention was associated with reduced rates of recent unprotected sex with both females and males among heterosexually identified Latino MSMW. The campaign was also associated with increases in perception of HIV risk, knowledge of testing locations, and condom carrying among heterosexual Latinos.


CONCLUSIONS
Social marketing represents a promising approach for abating HIV transmission among heterosexually identified Latinos, particularly for heterosexually identified Latino MSMW. Given the scarcity of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for these populations, this prevention strategy warrants further investigation.
Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53726, USA. martinezdona@wisc.edu
Ana P
AP
Martínez-Donate
Jennifer A
JA
Zellner
Fernando
F
Sañudo
Araceli
A
Fernandez-Cerdeño
Melbourne F
MF
Hovell
Carol L
CL
Sipan
Moshe
M
Engelberg
Hector
H
Carrillo
D000328:Adult; D001727:Bisexuality; D002140:California; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D040241:Social Marketing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires