Using My Space to promote HIV and STD Prevention: Program Design and Recruitment Lindsey Breslin, MS

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Using My Space to promote HIV and STD Prevention
Program Design and RecruitmentLindsey Breslin,
MSW and Allegra MadsenUniversity of Colorado and
ISISAcknowledgements Sheana Bull, PhD.,
M.P.H.Sandra Black, DVM, MSPH, Steven Q. Muth,
Director, Quintus-ential Solutions, Deb Levine,
ISIS Inc., ISIS Team, Answer Team
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Focus groups on My Space
Initial focus groups Chatroom on MySpace page
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Two strategies for making friends (on Myspace)

• Viral-Harvesting friends from other Orgs

• Auto-Let Myspace find the target audience

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Getting the Word Out!

• Sent messages, posted bulletins used every
  opportunity to communicate with our friend base.

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Challenges

• Network members burnt out
• Specific time restricted involvement

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Focus groups on My Space

• Created a group and invited members to join
• Within reach (group posted on their page)

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Focus groups on My Space

• Forum topics where people could post responses
• Participants able to read others replies
• Accessible at all times

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Focus groups on My Space
Change in methods Threaded discussion within a
MySpace group
Sample Response Thread
We Posted
We have been thinking up features that the page
will have. We have been thinking about a TV
Series with real characters dealing with real
sex issues this could be a serial cartoon or a
video, and we were thinking about asking our
friends to help us decide what happens to the
characters. 1. What do you think about animation
vs live action?2. Another idea is to offer
weekly tips and facts about staying healthy.
Those could come from a young person living with
HIV, a young person who is studying health in
college, an adult who is a doctor or scientist, a
teacher or coach, or someone else. Would
something like this be appealing to you?3. Do
you have any suggestions? 4. Can you think of
Myspace features that we should definitely
include? Or exclude? Why?
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Results from Threaded Discussion

• Participants
• Total 30 participants completed the threaded
  discussions over a 7 day period
• 11 Female, 19 Male
• 3 African American, 5 Latino/a, 20 White, 2
  Native American/Asian/Other

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Results from Threaded Discussion

• They want to see the bigger picture
• Anti-authority School doesnt talk about real
  issues
• They have a right to know all the
  facts/information, want to know whats really
  happening
• If we talk about HIV, we have to talk about STDs
  and pregnancy theyre all outcomes of unsafe
  sex.
• Sex isnt only about the physical outcomes we
  cant forget about the emotional and mental
  aspects of sex
• Theyre approaching a sexlife mentality
• Healthy sexuality is a process Its all a part
  of maturing, growing and developing as a human
  being

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Results from Threaded Discussion

• They want self-determination
• Youth expertise theyre grown-ups, not children
• MySpace is a way to express oneself freely
• Style of page
• Who they add as friends
• Organizations (causes, bands, etc.) represent
  their beliefs, values, likes
• They live in an internet world
• Want things fast, fresh, cutting edge easy to
  find

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Just/Us on Myspace
Link to Animation
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Next Step..Recruitment

• Heard what youth want
• Explain the recruitment process of these virtual
  social networks
• Goal is to improve the recruitment of high risk
  youth in HIV prevention

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Network Identification

• Identify a seed
• Research the top 25 MSAs for HIV infection
• Although HIV is reportable, complications re
  test sites, and anonymous testing make these data
  problematic
• Include Top MSAs for CT, GC and Syphilis
  infection
• Identify priorities for purposive sampling MSM,
  African American and Latino seeds

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Network Identification

• Select a zip code randomly within the MSA
• Select a seed randomly within the zip code (that
  fits our purposive sampling characteristic)

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K-plex

• Based on density, (ties present vs. possible)
  within a subgraph
• A subgraph where a maximal number of ties (K) can
  be absent from each node in a group of size (N).
  Ntotal people in the subgraph.
• Each member must be connected to at least n-k
  other members
• A 2-plex of size five?
• K2, so two ties maximum may be absent,
• Must be connected to at least (5-2) or 3 other
  nodes.

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Using the k-plex

• Find those potential participants with k-plex
  scores in the 20th percentile for each network
• Assess whether they are in the identified MSA
• Randomly select 1 person per network, for 40
  initial participants (20 for control group, 20
  for intervention group)
• Contact them to ask them to joint he study as one
  of our Respondent Driven Sample seeds who will
  recruit fellow participants from their MySpace
  friends

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Just/Us on Myspace
Just/Us page