A CBPR Partnership Increases HIV Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM): Outcome Findings From a Pilot Test of the CyBER/testing Internet Intervention
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online June, 2011
A CBPR Partnership Increases HIV Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM): Outcome Findings From a Pilot Test of the CyBER/testing Internet Intervention
The Internet has emerged as an important tool for the delivery of health promotion and disease prevention interventions. Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership developed and piloted CyBER/testing, a culturally congruent intervention designed to promote HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) within existing Internet chat rooms. Using a quasi-experimental, single-group study design, cross-sectional data were collected from chat room participants, known as “chatters,” at pretest (n = 346) and posttest (n = 315). Extant profile data also were collected to describe the demographics of the online population. The intervention significantly increased self-reported HIV testing among chatters overall, increasing rates from 44.5% at pretest to nearly 60% at posttest (p < .001). Furthermore, chatters who reported having both male and female sexual partners had nearly 6 times the odds of reporting HIV testing at posttest. Findings suggest that chat room—based HIV testing intervention may increase testing among MSM who may be difficult to reach in traditional physical spaces.
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