Acceptability of Sexually Explicit Images in HIV Prevention Messages Targeting Men Who Have Sex With Men

Digital Formats for Community Participation in Health Promotion and Prevention Activities: A Scoping Review

Objectives: Digital technologies in public health are primarily used in medical settings and mostly on an individual and passive way of use. There are research gaps on digital media facilitating participation, empowerment, community engagement, and participatory research in community settings. This scoping review aims to map existing literature on digital formats that enable participation in the field of health promotion and prevention in community settings.

Design: The databases Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO were used to identify studies published from 2010 up to date (date of literature search) onward that used digital formats in all or in the main sequences of the process to enable high levels of participation in health promotion and prevention activities in community settings.

Results: This review identified nine out of 11 included studies relevant to the research question. We found five studies that applied qualitative participatory research, two studies on peer support and one study each on empowerment and crowdsourcing. The digital technologies used varied widely and included social media platforms, bulletin boards, online forum webpages, and customized web providers and programs. Most studies mentioned anonymity, flexibility, and convenience as benefits of digital interventions. Some papers reported limitations such as difficulties by interpreting written-only data or the possibility of selection bias due to the digital divide.

Conclusion: This scoping review identified only few studies relevant to our objective, indicating an existing gap in research on this topic. Digital formats were found to be particularly suitable for purposes where anonymity and flexibility are beneficial, such as for online peer exchange and peer support programs.

Using Videoconferencing Focus Groups in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research With Chinese Im/Migrants in Australia

Videoconferencing focus groups have emerged as a popular method for collecting qualitative data. However, its use in sexual and reproductive health research is still very much in its infancy. Based on participants' feedback and researchers' reflections on using videoconferencing focus groups to collect sexual and reproductive health data with 39 heterosexual and non-heterosexual Chinese im/migrants in Australia, we discuss some of the key lessons learned, and considerations involved in shifting from face-to-face to online focus groups. Overall, videoconferencing focus groups appeared to be a highly feasible and acceptable way to discuss "sensitive" topics with Chinese im/migrants. Importantly, researchers need to be both creative and reflexive during the research process and must not forget that the success of a study lies not only in troubleshooting technical issues but also in cultivating and maintaining a trusting relationship with research participants.

Gay and Bisexual Men's Recommendations for Effective Digital Social Marketing Campaigns to Enhance HIV Prevention and Care Continuity

Because use of geosocial-networking smartphone applications ('apps') is ubiquitous among men who have sex with men (MSM), online-to-offline service models that include advertisements on these apps may improve engagement with effective HIV prevention and treatment services. Through our formative qualitative study, we conducted individual in-depth interviews (n = 30) and focus group discussions (n = 18) with MSM in Rhode Island to develop a digital social marketing campaign aimed at increasing HIV testing, including how best to reach men by advertising on apps. Qualitative data analysis revealed that participants were frequently exposed to pop-up advertisements on apps. These advertisements are viewed as invasive and, as such, many expressed a preference for other formats (e.g., direct messages, banner advertisements). Men expressed a preference for provocative images and phrases to catch their attention followed with fact-driven messaging to motivate them to engage with services offline. Findings from this study offer several practical recommendations for developing a social marketing campaign that uses advertisements on apps to increase HIV testing among MSM, including using formats other than pop-up advertisements and pairing fact-driven messaging with eye-catching images to direct them to trusted local clinical services.