title: Methods for measuring diffusion of a social media-based health intervention.
abstract: This study evaluated the feasibility of measuring diffusion from a social networking community-level intervention. One year after completion of a randomized controlled HIV prevention trial on Facebook, 112 minority men who have sex with men (MSM) were asked to refer African-American and/or Latino sex partners to complete a survey. Results suggest that, compared to non-referrers, referrers spent more time online, controlling for age, race, education, and condition. Over 60% of referrals reported hearing about the intervention, and over half reported that the referrer talked to them about changing health behaviors. Results provide support and initial feasibility of using social networking for diffusing community-based HIV interventions.
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Digital Behavior, Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Sean D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Belin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Klausner
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Valente
keywords: HIV prevention; diffusion of innovations; social networking technologies