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Improving HIV Self-Testing Social Network Interventions: The Role of Sexual Behavior Disclosure Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men

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Abstract

We assessed if same-sex sexual behavior disclosure of index men who have sex with men (MSM) was related to number of HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits requested by index participants, and number of test results successfully uploaded by alters in a network-based HIVST intervention. Index participants are men who accessed and distributed HIVST kits and alters are index’s social contacts who received kits. We analyzed treatment arm data [N = 106, mean age = 27 (SD = 5.3)] of an intervention conducted among MSM in Guangzhou, China, May 2019—December 2019. Index MSM who disclosed sexual behavior to their family tended to request more kits [adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) 1.42, 95% CI 1.06, 1.90, p < .05]. Index men who disclosed sexual behavior to their family (aIRR 2.47, 95% CI 1.17, 5.24, p < .05) tended to yield an increase in number of alter test results uploaded. Findings have implications for the development of network-based interventions for key populations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editor, reviewers, and all program participants. The National Institutes of Health (UNC CFAR P30 AI50410, NIAID K24AI143471), Southern Medical University Dermatology Hospital, Yale University Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies, and Yale MacMillan Center funded the study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

The funding was provided by National Institutes of Health (Grant No. UNC CFAR P30 AI50410), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Grant No. K24AI143471), Yale University Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies and Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Nature Laboratory, Department of Sociology, Yale University, 210 Prospect St, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Navin Kumar, Laura Forastiere, Kamila Janmohamed & Marcus Alexander

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Laura Forastiere

  3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, No. 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, 510095, China

    Fan Yang, Tiange Zhang, Yongjie Sha, Joseph D. Tucker & Weiming Tang

  4. Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL, USA

    Tiange Zhang

  5. Dermatology Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Weiming Tang

  6. School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Joseph D. Tucker & Weiming Tang

  7. Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Joseph D. Tucker

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  1. Navin Kumar
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Correspondence to Navin Kumar.

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Kumar, N., Forastiere, L., Janmohamed, K. et al. Improving HIV Self-Testing Social Network Interventions: The Role of Sexual Behavior Disclosure Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men. AIDS Behav 25, 1984–1992 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03128-1

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