Curious abo
ut apps like Grindr and sexual health behaviours? The OHTN’s new Rapid Response provides an overview of the impact of mobile apps and hook-up sites on risk behaviour and HIV/STI transmission among men who have sex with men. It also looks at ways to work with these platforms to promote sexual health.
Key Take-Home Messages
• Since the 1990s, gay and bisexual men who have sex with men have been using information and communication technologies, specifically the internet and mobile smart- phone networking applications for a variety of sexual purposes.
• Men who prefer finding partners online, and by extension, men who use mobile apps to find partners, prefer the anonymity of the encounter, the ability to experiment with their sexuality, and the ease of interaction with partners.
• While some research suggests that seeking sex through mobile and internet platforms is associated with more high-risk behaviours than other ways of finding sexual partners, other research suggests on-line sex seeking may contribute to more protective behaviours.
• Given the number of men who use the internet and mobile apps to seek sexual partners, these platforms may be effective tools for education and HIV-STI prevention interventions.
• The internet and mobile apps can be used to recruit and engage men who have sex with men in HIV-related research; however, researchers should be aware of the different characteristics (e.g., age, ethnicity, education) of individuals recruited through mobile apps versus more traditional recruitment methods.