Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) Who Meet Partners Online, Dating/Hookup Website Owners, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Directors Agree on Many Online Strategies to Reduce Transmission of HIV/STD

Background:  Strategies to reduce STD and HIVs among MSM who meet partners online have been created typically without consulting dating and "hook-up" website owners or users.  The has had negative consequences for both owners and public health and has strained relationships between them.

Objectives: Determine which online behavioral and structural strategies have the greatest support by public health, site owners, and users.

Methods: We developed a list of 78 online prevention strategies through reviewing current websites, literature, and conducting focus groups.  We asked website owners (n=18) about their willingness to participate in or support them; users (n=4,062), their willingness to use them; and HIV/STD directors (n=82), their perceptions of strategies’ potential impact on HIV/STD transmission.  Analysis was conducted through modified concept-mapping techniques.

Results:  A majority of each of the three groups surveyed supported: Including “safe sex” as a profile option and allowing users to search for partners by such  characteristic; providing  directories of STD testing location; sending automatic reminders to get an HIV or STD test at regular intervals chosen by users; having chat-rooms and other areas  for HIV-positive men looking for other HIV-positive men; providing e-cards to notify partners of a potential exposure to STDs; posting videos that show men discussing safe sex, HIV status, and related issues; providing access to sexual health experts

Conclusions: Some strategies had support from all stakeholders; others, such as health-department initiated partner notification, greater support from HIV/STD directors and users than owners.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: These findings can help prevention efforts be more consistent across websites and result in greater utilization of prevention strategies and resources by users.  Data about user willingness may also be helpful in finding areas of agreement regarding strategies about which website owners are less supportive and in providing guidance as to how to modify those agreements in ways that will be accepted by all.