Video gaming and Social Media May Help Stop HIV in At-Risk Gay Guys


Photo: Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images

Even after the peak on the American

AIDS

crisis,

HIV

continues to be a problem among gay men, who will be identified as having the condition at a level “more than 40 instances that of females and most 44 instances that of various other men,” as a
current paper
when you look at the

Diary of Hospital Online Analysis

details. The report, a study of numerous tech-driven how to lessen the rate of

HIV

inside at-risk population, factors toward the new generation of (ideally) effective


treatments.

There are lots of interesting choices in the offing, as the learn’s
press release explains
:


One interactive site, Sexpulse, designed by health professionals and computer system researchers to a target males which seek intimate lovers online, effectively lowered risky sexual behaviors. Another website, Continue The Good Work! (

KIU

), utilized video gaming in reducing prices of exposed anal sex. A 3rd effort, an online video game, assisted mitigate embarrassment noticed by some teenagers who possess sex with men, although reduction in dangerous sexual behavior was not mathematically


considerable.

The process listed here is much less about

just what

message to supply, considering the fact that the fundamentals of exactly how

HIV

and

HELPS

work were pretty well-publicized now, than ideas on how to deliver it, since merely describing that a behavior is actually unsafe is often not adequate to alter


it.

It is important to point out this particular does not just affect gay guys; people do a variety of harmful behaviors, from substance abuse to overeating to smoking cigarettes to using sedentary lifestyles, despite having been informed they may be hazardous. That’s why the question of how to get people to create more healthy choices is an enormous area of concern for public-health experts — making a powerful behavior input may be an extremely challenging thing to do. (We’ll end up being uploading a longer, much more detailed post on this subject topic


shortly.)

A few of the most useful techniques logically target internet sites â€” peer stress has a tendency to affect all of us in manners other is attractive frequently you should never. This is borne in the


review:


On internet sites for example fb and Twitter, well-known people can distribute

HIV

-prevention emails for their pals and supporters. The posting of real information about

HIV

screening join the dating app via this source on a social network seemed to boost demands for

HIV

screening packages, one learn discovered. Another research unearthed that making use of opinion leaders to share

HIV

-prevention details via social networking sites may increase examination costs and bolster condom utilize during anal intercourse with lovers located


on line.


It really is a very peculiar quirk of peoples reason that presentation the same old info in a somewhat different method can cause better results. The good news is, specialists are starting to exploit


this.