Abstract
BackgroundMany young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are reluctant to seek health services and trust local physicians. Online information seeking may encourage YMSM to identify and see trustworthy physicians, obtain sexual health services, and obtain testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This study examined online STI information seeking behaviors among Chinese YMSM and its association with offline physician visits.MethodsWe conducted a nationwide online survey among YMSM through WeChat, the largest social media platform in China. We collected information on individual demographics, sexual behaviors, online STI information seeking, offline STI testing, and STI physician visits. We examined the most commonly used platforms (search engines, governmental websites, counseling websites, generic social media, gay mobile apps, and mobile medical apps) and their trustworthiness. We assessed interest and willingness to use an MSM-friendly physician finder function embedded within a gay mobile app. Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlation between online STI information searching and offline physician visits.ResultsA total of 503 men completed the survey. Most men (425/503, 84.5%) searched for STI information online. The most commonly used platform to obtain STI information were search engines (402/425, 94.5%), followed by gay mobile apps (201/425, 47.3%). Men reported high trustworthiness of information received from gay mobile apps. Men also reported high interest (465/503, 92.4%) and willingness (463/503, 92.0%) to use a MSM-friendly physician finder function within such apps. Both using general social media (aOR =1.14, 95%CI: 1.04–1.26) and mobile medical apps (aOR =1.16, 95%CI: 1.01–1.34) for online information seeking were associated with visiting a physician.ConclusionOnline STI information seeking is common and correlated with visiting a physician among YMSM. Cultivating partnerships with the emerging mobile medical apps may be useful for disseminating STI information and providing better physician services to YMSM.
Highlights
Many young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are reluctant to seek health services and trust local physicians
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between online Sexually transmitted infections (STI) information seeking and offline STI physician visits among YMSM
The survey questionnaire was field-tested by twenty YMSM in April 2017, and their feedback was incorporated in finalizing the survey questionnaire
Summary
Many young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are reluctant to seek health services and trust local physicians. Online information seeking may encourage YMSM to identify and see trustworthy physicians, obtain sexual health services, and obtain testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), yet are often reluctant to obtain healthcare services [1,2,3,4]. Service decentralization may result in inconsistent quality of health services [7], making it difficult to meet the unique needs of YMSM. In order to improve sexual health services and reduce HIV/STI transmission, linkage to care of YMSM to MSMfriendly physicians is urgently needed
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