Website owners and users - San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Transcription
Website owners and users - San Francisco AIDS Foundation
>>> How can public health, website owners and website users come together to solve one of the biggest challenges in gay, bi and trans men’s health? The following is a report from a national study conducted by STOP AIDS Project, The California HIV/STD Prevention Training Center and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. It was funded through a grant from amfAR. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or feedback: [email protected]. This report was authored by Dan Wohlfeiler, Jennifer Hecht, H. Fisher Raymond, Tom Kennedy, and Willi McFarland 02 Why we did this survey Our primary goal for this survey was to help reduce the spread of HIV and STDs among men looking for male sex partners online. Our San Francisco-based team wondered if making minor changes to websites could improve the sexual and social health of gay, bisexual, and transgender men. We wanted to identify HIV and STD prevention strategies that are: 4Feasible from the viewpoint of website owners, 4Effective from the perspective of public health experts, and 4Attractive to users. Here are some of the most common sexual health risks for gay and bi men in the United States: 4Nationally, 20% of gay and bisexual men are estimated to be living with HIV. 4Of gay and bi men who visit STD clinics, 15% have gonorrhea and 11% have chlamydia. 03 We also wanted to improve communication between HIV/ STD directors and website owners. While HIV/STD directors and website owners have collaborated before, including developing guidelines for online partner notification, owners continue to receive many requests from local health jurisdictions around the country. The lack of a coordinated approach toward online HIV and STD prevention works against all of us. We were also eager to learn which new and existing features web users wanted to see incorporated into their favorite sites. HIV/STD directors and website owners are more likely to be successful in efforts to promote health if they know the opinions of the end users. The lack of a coordinated approac toward online HIV/ STD prevention work >>> The lack of a coordinated approach toward online HIV/STD prevention works against all of us. 04 The Three Stakeholders To meet our goals, we collected the opinions of three stakeholder groups: website owners, HIV/STD directors, and website users. Some of the questions we tried to answer were: 4 Which ideas do website owners and users both like? 4 Which ideas don’t they like? 4 Which strategies do HIV/STD directors think would be effective at preventing HIV/STD infection? 4 Do men of different ages or ethnicities prefer different strategies? 4 Do men from rural and urban areas prefer We defined this as people having two or more unprotected different strategies? partners in the previous six months, where the partners 4 Which strategies do men who take are of different or unknown HIV status. > THE MOST SEXUAL RISKS < prefer? 4 How willing are website owners to make specific changes? For a strategy to be considered “supported”, more than 50% of that group needed to have rated it as a 4 or 5, on a scale from 1 to 5. After learning how these groups reacted to various strategies, we then looked for areas of agreement and disagreement. If the majority of all three groups > SUPPORTED < a strategy, it would obviously be an important finding. We also wanted to find those strategies that no one supported. 05 We anticipated that the groups might disagree about some strategies. Here are some scenarios we imagined: 4 Owners think a strategy would make a difference and are willing to do it. HIV/STD directors love the idea too. But only a small percentage of users would ever use it. 4 Owners and users love an idea but HIV/STD directors believe it would do little to stop the spread of HIV and STDs. 4 Users and HIV/STD directors want features that may be too costly or that aren’t in line with an owner’s vision for their business. Here’s How We Gathered The Data We designed three surveys, each with the same set of intervention strategies for the three stakeholder groups. For each idea, we asked: 4Owners >> What is your willingness to participate or host it on your site? 4HIV/STD Directors >> Do you think this strategy could reduce HIV/STD transmission? By how much? 4Users >> How likely would you be to use it? 06 To develop the list of strategies, we reviewed 1) the content of many websites for existing practices, 2) ideas from other research studies, and 3) ideas that were brainstormed through our pilot research but were never implemented. We also consulted with numerous health and website experts to learn what they thought should be added to our list. We held focus groups in San Francisco to pre-test the ideas on our list, learning ways to improve the items we were considering. We then launched the owners’ survey and the HIV/ STD directors’ survey. This also allowed us to ask owners and directors for suggestions of more strategies, which we asked users about. To promote the survey to users, we developed a series of > BANNER ADS < which we then placed on 11 websites. Our ads appeared on the following sites: BarebackRT, BearCiti, Big Muscle, Big Muscle Bears, Black Gay Chat, DaddyHunt, DudesNude, Facebook, Fridae, Gay.com, Men4Now, Poz.com and Rentboy. 07 Who Participated We were able to find contact information for 31 owners of popular websites, and invited them to participate in our survey. Eighteen of them completed it (58%). We heard from many types of sites: large and small; some only serving gay men, others serving everyone; some catering to men seeking unprotected sex; others targeting specific demographic groups; and sites that promote dating, hookups, male escorts and masseurs. We also invited members of the > NATIONAL COALITION OF STD DIRECTORS < and the > NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE AND TERRITORIAL AIDS DIRECTORS < to participate. A total of 82 members (76% of the membership) completed the survey. www.ncsddc.org www.nastad.org 6,896 web users accepted our invitation to participate in the survey and 3050 completed it. Only people who met the > ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA < could participate. The demographics of web users who completed the survey follow: Eligibility criteria for participation included: being over 18 years of age, living in the United States, identifying as male or transmale, and having looked for a male sex partner online in the previous six months. 08 risk level location high 10% WEBSITE USER RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS: low 90% declined to state 1.3% urban * we defined rural areas as the 10 states 92.4% with the fewest lgbt couples hiv76% don’t know 7.1% hiv+ 14.5% declined to state 2.3% 55-64 5% 65+ 1% age hiv status rural areas * 1.3% 35-54 36.7% 25-34 30.4% race 18-24 latino 8% white 69% native american 3% asian / pacific islander 3% multi-racial 3% 26.8% other 1% black 13% 09 “IN A TYPICAL WEEK, HOW MANY HOURS DO YOU SPEND ONLINE LOOKING FOR GUYS?” % of users >> light use / < 3 hrs 22.9% moderate use / 3-5 hrs frequent use / 6-13 hrs heavy use / > 13 hrs 0.7% “HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ONLINE?” 29.6% 26.0% 20.8% no response % of users >> rarely sometimes often 45.4% 39.2% 9.9% 5.4% no response 10 What Users Told Us About Themselves We asked participants to identify sites they visited in the last six months, providing them with a list of 49 of the most popular dating and hook-up sites. We also left a space for them to list other sites. PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO VISITED EACH SITE (TOP FIFTEEN): 11 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO NAMED THE FOLLOWING SITES AS THEIR FAVORITE (TOP FIFTEEN): 12 > RESULTS > Here are the results of how each group responded to questions about the different strategies. We looked at how each group rated the various strategies on a scale from 1 to 5. If more than 50% of the group rated the strategy as either a 4 or 5, we considered the strategy to be ‘supported.’ Then we looked to see which strategies were supported by all three groups. www.stopaids.org/online.pdf You can > DOWNLOAD < a longer narrative of this report, which we wrote for a public health audience. >>> “Some of these ideas are good, it’s just finding a way to integrate them into the sites.” –WEB OWNER 13 OF THE 41 STRATEGIES INCLUDED IN THE SURVEY, THE FOLLOWING EIGHT WERE SUPPORTED BY ALL THREE GROUPS: 1. Allow users to filter partners by their profile information 3. 4. 6. Include a specific sub-section or chat-room of a website for men with specific sexual interests (“safe sex only”, “barebacking”, “HIV positive”, etc.) Include safe sex preference as a profile option 5. Access to sexual health experts Access to sex-positive videos, showing men dealing with issues like safer sex, telling someone their HIV status, or related issues 7. 8. 2. Online STD testing directory by zip code Automatic reminders from sites to get an HIV and/or STD test at an interval of the user’s choice E-cards to notify partners of a potential exposure to an STD 14 THREE STRATEGIES WERE SUPPORTED BY A MAJORITY OF USERS AND OWNERS, AND CLOSE TO A MAJORITY OF HIV/STD DIRECTORS: 4 Having specific sexual behaviors listed in profile options 4 Having an online HIV testing directory by zip code 4 Providing information about HIV/STDs (Due to the way we asked HIV/STD directors to rate some of the items on the survey, it’s likely that they expressed support for fewer strategies than if we had asked them in the exact same way as users and owners) aving HIV status includ s a profile option was upported by more than >>> Having HIV status included as a profile option was supported by more than three-quarters of HIV/STD directors and website users, but only 44% of website owners. 15 FOLLOWING ARE MORE DETAILED RESULTS FOR STRATEGIES, GROUPED BY TYPE: 4 Ways to search for partners 4 Profile options 4 Information about sites 4 Health information 4 Information about meeting partners and socializing 4 Education and outreach activities 4 HIV/STD testing options 4 Partner notification options 16 Ways To Search For Partners These two strategies allow users to find partners with specific characteristics. 4 Using profiles to search for partners: users filter the members of a site based on the profile options available. 4 Specific chat-rooms and lists: Users have the opportunity to access a specific, targeted area of a site, which would only include members with specific characteristics, such as HIV status or safer sex preference. Both of these strategies were supported by more than 50% of all three stakeholders: website owners website users hiv / std directors filtering for partners by profiles 61% 86% 75% subsites, chat rooms, lists or areas by specific profile options 56% 73% 63% SEARCHING FOR PARTNERS: indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups 17 Profile Options We asked stakeholders which > PROFILE OPTIONS < they want included in a profile screen. Of all the profile options, only > SAFE SEX PREFERENCE < scored above 50% in all three stakeholder groups. Two others rated close to 50% by all three groups: > SEXUAL BEHAVIORS < and HIV status. E.g. Top, bottom or versatile; oral, jacking off E.g. Always, sometimes, needs more discussion • safe sex preference (always; sometimes; needs more discussion) • specific sexual behaviors (top; bottom; oral; jacking off; etc) • HIV status • date of last HIV test • date of last STD test • relationship status (single, partnered, etc) • looking to hookup (yes, no) • looking to date (yes, no) • hep B status • hep C status • PnP (party and play) preference • drug use preference. After web owners and HIV/STD directors shared their input, we added nine additional profile options to the user survey: • • • • • • • • • herpes status SM/kink/bondage “I used a condom the last time I hooked up” “I plan to use a condom the next time I hook up” race poz-friendly (open to sex with HIV positive guys) educational background income age like helping HIV+ people d other HIV+ people on ular hook up sites. I >>> “I like helping HIV+ people find other HIV+ people on regular hook up sites. I don’t want to have to go to a separate hook up site for HIV+ people.” –WEB USER 18 label 50 make 50 STAKEHOLDERS’ SUPPORT OF PROFILE OPTIONS d Dots closest to the center indicate the most support o d u separat o key: AD u d u o o d d u o o u d u u d o d u u u o d o o website owners u website users d hiv / std directors indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups o u o d d od u 19 Information About Sites We asked participants for their opinions about having an independent website that could list detailed information about the membership characteristics of different dating and hookup sites; for example, how many profiles on a given site had ‘safe sex only’ or ‘no PNP’ in them. We also asked participants to rate having a third-party, independent site where members rated dating and hookup sites, or could blog about their experiences. website owners website users links to user blogs about cruising experiences 44% 43% user reviews of websites 22% 56% 23% aggregate statistics on site user characteristics 33% 67% 63% STD statistics on specific sites 33% 65% 63% INFORMATION ABOUT SITES: hiv / std directors 10 % 20 There were four items in this section: 1. Links to blogs for users to review sites. These would provide users an opportunity to create their own “yelp”like reviews. 2. Having independent sites which publicize STD statistics, collected by health departments, about the number of people who had recently received an STD diagnosis and reported meeting partners on specific websites. 3. A third-party site where users could write reviews of the top cruising websites. 4. A website that would provide aggregate statistics on site user characteristics (e.g., percent of men who say they are looking for safe sex only, percent looking for barebacking, etc.) This information would be provided by website owners and hosted on a site that would be updated several times a year. Free HIV tests seem eas find, but I’m unsure ab ee STD tests.” >>> “Free HIV tests seem easy to find, but I’m unsure about free STD tests.” –WEB USER 21 Health Information We asked stakeholders about seven items: 4 information about HIV/STDs 4 access to a sexual health expert 4 live chat with an outreach worker 4 tailored user-specific health information 4 drug information 4 local health education events listing 4 tips on having healthy hot sex. All three stakeholder groups supported having access to a sexual health expert. Users preferred having access to sexual health experts than to outreach workers. While a majority of HIV/STD directors and users supported entry screens in which individuals enter personal information to receive tailored health advice, only 22% of owners did. 22 HEALTH INFORMATION: website owners website users hiv / std directors info about HIV/STDs 94% 65% 42% access to a sexual health expert 78 % 58% 64% live chat with outreach worker 72 % 41% 57% 59% 64% tailored user-specific health info 22 % drug information 83 % local health education events listing 71 % 46 % tips for having hot, healthy sex 78 % 65% 28 % 10 % 7% 41% indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups 23 Information About Meeting Partners and Socializing None of the following strategies were supported by a majority of all three stakeholder groups: website owners website users 61% 75% safer cruising advice 94% 64% advice on writing profiles 72 % 56% links to local social events links to social network profiles like Facebook “black book” to keep track of sexual partners 28 % 39 % 26 % 65% hiv / std directors 7% 41% 14 % 11 % 59% ’d like a way to let guys down easy, when you’re nterested, without hav >>> “[I’d like] a way to let guys down easy, when you’re not interested, without having to ignore them or write an awkward message.” –WEB USER 24 Education and Outreach Activities We asked participants to rate three types of online education: individual educational sessions, group educational sessions, and videos that show men dealing with issues like safer sex, telling someone their HIV status, or related issues in a sexpositive way. Only one of these strategies, sex-positive videos, received positive ratings by more than 50% of all three stakeholders. website owners website users hiv / std directors online individual education about sexual health 61% 41 % 80 % online group education about sexual health 56% 38 % 75 % sex-positive videos 61% 52% 82 % indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups 25 HIV/STD Testing Options We asked participants to rate four strategies aimed at increasing STD and HIV testing: 4 Links to online STD testing directories by zip code 4 Links to online HIV testing directories by zip code 4 Automatic reminders to get an HIV and/or STD test, sent from dating and hook-up websites, at an interval that the user chooses. 4 Printable lab slips to present to a commercial laboratory, enabling users to get STD tests they want think directories alrea exist and information ca be found, but making it easier to find can’t hurt. >>> “I think the directories already exist and information can be found (but making it easier to find can’t hurt).” –HIV / STD DIRECTOR 26 ree HIV tests seem easy o find, but I’m not sure bout STD tests. >>> “Free HIV tests seem easy to find, but I’m unsure about free STD tests.” –WEB USER website owners website users hiv / std directors STD test directory 89 % 71 % 62% HIV test directory 89 % 70 % 48% automatic testing reminders 67% 58% 70 % online lab slips for STD testing 61% 58% 33 % HIV/STD TESTING OPTIONS: indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups 27 Partner Notification Options We asked participants to rate three different ways to implement partner notification. 1. Patients notifying partners on their own. 2. Patients notifying partners through sending an e-card, such as the one inSPOT provides. 3. Health department professionals notify the partners of patients with the patient’s permission. (We asked about this strategy for both STDs and HIV.) The majority of owners did not support health department partner notification, although many of them have collaborated with health departments around the country to facilitate partner notification online. Owners preferred ‘on your own’ or e-card solutions to health-department’s involvement in partner notification. Of these four options, the only one that was supported by all three stakeholder groups >>> Of these four options, the only one that was supported by all three stakeholder groups was having users send e-cards to their partners. 28 Users were supportive of all partner notification strategies. They were somewhat more supportive of notifying their own partners. HIV/STD directors supported health department-sponsored partner notification. website owners website users notify partners on your own 72 % 73 % anonymous e-card by user 67% 63% 80 % hiv / std directors 28 % health department initiated – HIV 33 % 62% 88 % health department initiated – STD 33 % 59% 90 % indicates a minimum approval rate of 50% among all three groups 29 What Different Groups of Users Told Us When we looked at what different subcategories of users said, we found some interesting results. We defined this as people having two or more unprotected partners in the previous six months, where the partners are of different HIV status. > HIGH-RISK PARTICIPANTS < were somewhat less willing to use nearly all strategies than lower-risk participants. The two strategies they were more willing to use were: 4Providing specific sexual behaviors in their profile 4Stating an interest in SM kink/bondage in their profile HIV positive participants were somewhat less willing to use most strategies than HIV-negative participants: 84% of HIVnegative participants supported including their HIV status on their profile, compared to 66% of HIV-positive participants. Here were the seven strategies HIV+ participants were more willing to use: 4Subsites, chat rooms, or lists with specific options 4List of nearby social events 4The following profile options: > “pnp” preference option > specific sexual behaviors > Looking to hook-up option > SM kink/bondage > Poz-friendly 30 Race >> African American participants were generally more supportive of strategies than white participants. However, while a majority of African American participants supported “HIV status” and “safe sex preference” as profile options, they did so at slightly lower levels than White participants. Age >> Older men were somewhat less supportive of most strategies. However, men over 65 did rate including “HIV status” and “poz-friendly” as profile options higher than younger men. While web users expres low support for online o reach, a majority of men >>> While web users expressed low support for online outreach, a majority of men under 25 did support it. > RURAL MEN < >> Men from primarily rural and urban areas gave similar ratings to most strategies. However, there was one notable difference: rural participants were more likely to support online individual and group education sessions. While these strategies were still not overwhelmingly supported, it may suggest that they may be more popular in states where in-person educational sessions may not be as easily accessible. For this analysis, we were particularly interested in how interventions were considered by men from the 10 states with the fewest same sex couples. These included: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. 31 Strategies that no group supported There were several strategies that did not earn the support of a majority of any of the three stakeholder groups. These included: 4 Blogs about users’ experiences meeting partners online 4 Links from dating websites to social network sites, such as Facebook Additionally, five of the profile options that we presented failed to gain the support of a majority of any of the three stakeholders: 4 Hepatitis B and C status 4 Date of last STD test 4 Drug use preferences 4 “PnP” (“Party and Play”) preference Due to the way we asked HIV/STD directors to rate some of the items on the survey, it’s likely that they expressed support for fewer strategies than if we had asked them in the exact same way as users and owners. 32 Areas of Disagreement There were several strategies which were rated lower by one of the three stakeholders than by the other two. Website owners >> low level of support HIV/STD directors and users >> high level of support 4 Statistics on the number of STDs reported by users of different websites posted on a neutral site 4 Statistics which would aggregate characteristics of website users from different websites, posted on a neutral site (i.e., number of individuals on the site indicating they prefer safe sex) 4 Entry screens which would have an algorithm with health information tailored to users according to their level of risk or other characteristics 4 A “black book” which would allow users to keep track of past sexual partners 4 Online partner notification initiated by Health Departments for both HIV and STDs 4 HIV status on profile hanges draw a lot of crit sm from our user comunity. If they see benefi ey usually go along. If i ot obvious, they us >>> Changes draw a lot of criticism from our user community. If they see benefit, they usually go along. If it’s not obvious, they usually ignore it.” –WEB OWNER 33 HIV/STD directors >> low level of support Website owners and users >> high level of support 4 The following options in profile screens: > “Relationship status” > “Looking to date” and “looking to hook-up” > Specific sexual behaviors 4 Including links to local social events 4 Having infected individuals notify partners on their own as a primary partner-notification strategy 4 Information about HIV/STDs 4 Tips for healthy, hot sex 4 Safer cruising advice 4 Advice on writing profiles 4 HIV test directory 4 Printable STD lab slips Users >> low level of support Website owners and HIV/STD directors >> high level of support 4 4 4 Individual education sessions Group education sessions Online chat with outreach worker n the items that I didn’t ve full support, I’d want ome evidence that >>> On the items that I didn’t give full support, I’d want some evidence that these are what men want to see on these sites.” –HIV / STD DIRECTOR 34 What These Results Mean To Us We found that all three stakeholder groups were willing to participate in HIV and STD prevention activities, and in very specific ways. For example, HIV/STD directors are willing to create and maintain directories of STD test sites; website owners are willing to send automatic reminders to their users; and users are willing to sign up for the reminders (at an interval of their choosing). Implementing this intervention could well result in more people knowing their STD status and getting the treatment they need in a timely manner. There are, not surprisingly, important differences. We found that only a minority of website owners supported providing users with the number of individuals who have been diagnosed with STDs who report meeting partners on their site. However, opening dialogue with website owners about what additional data they would be willing to share may advance dialogue about development of future strategies. Web owners’ participation in this survey, and their stated willingness to continue to discuss these issues, represents an important step in building partnerships between HIV/ STD directors and website owners which will support the development of future online strategies. 35 A significant finding is the sheer number of strategies for which there was agreement among all three stakeholders. While some of the sites are already implementing these strategies, this survey may help encourage other sites to include them by providing data showing that their customers react to them favorably and are willing to participate in them. Next Steps These data provide a starting point, which we hope will be used for joint decision making. In order to help make that happen, we recommend that a national task force be formed, including representatives of the National Coalition of STD Directors, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and website owners. This group should meet to review these findings and prioritize next steps. There are many strategies that all stakeholders agreed upon, and we recommend that these be adopted by as many websites and HIV/STD programs as possible. If HIV/ STD directors think these strategies will reduce HIV/STD transmission, website owners are willing to support them, and website users are likely to utilize them, what’s stopping us from implementing them today? 36 The task force should also discuss how to make those interventions which all stakeholders supported as easy to access as possible. Website users may access information, such as links to testing sites, more readily if they can find them easily. Additionally, in collaboration with the website owners and users, we recommend modifying current strategies, or developing new ones, to reach those men who gave many of the interventions somewhat lower ratings, particularly HIVpositive and high-risk men. In addition to directors’ perceptions of impact, the task force should review published studies of the interventions included in this survey, where available. The task force should also discuss what should be done with current strategies that were rated low by users (such as online education sessions), perhaps reducing or eliminating them to free up resources for other interventions. This study revealed key strategies that can be put in place now as well as areas for future dialogue between HIV/STD directors and website owners. With HIV and STD rates on the rise among MSM nationally, now is the time to act. 37 Thank You We’d like to extend a thank you to all the study participants: 4 the thousands of website users whose feedback will help assure us that whatever we do, it’ll be wellaccepted by the community; 4 STD and HIV program directors, who took time to assess what would have the biggest impact on health; 4 and the website owners and managers who have taken time from their work to help us understand how best to leverage the internet’s many resources to promote health for us all. Additionally, we’d like to thank Dana Cropper-Williams and Kelly Mayor at the National Coalition of STD Directors and Dave Kern and Julie Scofield at the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors for their assistance. Ed Halteman provided consultation on the survey design and preliminary analysis. Advertisements and banner ads were designed by Michael Waddell and Eric Nielson. Kevin O’Malley designed this report. hank you so much for p ing this survey out. I ca >>> “Thank you so much for putting this survey out! I can’t wait to see its results in action!” –WEB USER 38 The following gave generous assistance before and during the study Stephan Adelson Matthew Amsden Coco Auerswald Kyle Bernstein Sheana Bull Mary Ann Chiasson Kevin Cranston Alberto Curotto Beau Gratzer Paul Harterink Sabina Hirshfield Shana Krochmal Deb Levine Spencer Lieb Julia Marcus Jeffrey O’Malley Jackson Peyton John Peterson Jim Pickett Ron Stall Frank Strona Jo Ellen Stryker Patrick Sullivan Adam Vaughn Edward White Bill Woods Staff at the STOP AIDS Project >> Staff at the California STD Control Branch and California HIV/STD Prevention Training Center >> Andy Connors Terry Dyer Greg Ford Michael Hyde Kyriell Noon Jason Riggs Jorge Vieto Heidi Bauer Gail Bolan Jessica Frasure Alice Gandelman Tom Gray Holly Howard Greg Mehlhaff Emily Quinn Michael Samuel Daniella Matthews-Trigg 39