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MSM Behavior Disclosure Networks and HIV Testing: An Egocentric Network Analysis Among MSM in China

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Abstract

Men who have sex with men (MSM) disclose same-sex behaviors with others, creating disclosure networks. This study examined the characteristics of disclosure networks that are associated with HIV testing among MSM in China through an online nationwide survey. Name-generator questions were used to ask each participant (“ego”) to nominate up to five social network members (“alters”) with whom he had disclosed same-sex behaviors. Among the 806 men, the average disclosure network size was 4.05. MSM who reported larger disclosure networks were more likely to have been tested for HIV (aOR 1.21, 95% CI 1.08–1.34). The most common disclosure network alters were friends (45.1%), followed by sex partners (18.7%) and healthcare professionals (2.5%). Men who disclosed to healthcare professionals were more likely to test for HIV compared to men who disclosed to family members (aOR 5.43, 95% CI 2.11–14.04). Our findings can inform disclosure network-based interventions to promote MSM HIV testing.

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Acknowledgements

We would like the thank the SESH (Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health) Global team for assistance.

Funding

This study was funded by National Institutes of Health [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 1R01AI114310]; UNC-South China STI Research Training Centre [Fogarty International Centre 1D43TW009532]; UNC Center for AIDS Research [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 5P30AI050410]; National Social Science Foundation of China [18CXW017]; Youth Talent Grant of Guangdong Province, China [2017WQNCX129]; Shenzhen University Grant [18QNFC46] and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the MeSH Consortium (BMGF-OPP1120138). This publication was also supported by Grant Number UL1TR001111 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Media and Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Bolin Cao

  2. University of North Carolina Project-China, Guangzhou, China

    Bolin Cao, Stephen W. Pan, Chuncheng Liu, Weiming Tang & Joseph D. Tucker

  3. Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health (SESH), Guangzhou, China

    Bolin Cao, Stephen W. Pan, Chuncheng Liu, Jason J. Ong, Weiming Tang & Joseph D. Tucker

  4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Adam J. Saffer & Joseph D. Tucker

  5. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

    Cui Yang

  6. Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Hexin Chen

  7. Faculty of Humanities and Arts, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau, China

    Kun Peng

  8. Department of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China

    Stephen W. Pan

  9. Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, USA

    Maya Durvasula

  10. Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA

    Chuncheng Liu

  11. Eastern Virginia Medical University, Norfolk, USA

    Hongyun Fu

  12. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Jason J. Ong & Joseph D. Tucker

  13. Guangdong Provincial Centre for Skin Diseases and STI Control, Number 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, China

    Weiming Tang

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  1. Bolin Cao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph D. Tucker.

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Conflicts of interest

Dr. Tucker and Weiming Tang, co-investigators on this study, participate in unpaid activities and as advisors for SESH Global, the coordinating center for this study. No other authors have conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cao, B., Saffer, A.J., Yang, C. et al. MSM Behavior Disclosure Networks and HIV Testing: An Egocentric Network Analysis Among MSM in China. AIDS Behav 23, 1368–1374 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02404-z

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