Pic: Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images
Long afterwards the peak of the American
AIDS
crisis,
HIV
is still a problem among gay guys, who will be diagnosed with the disease for a price “more than 40 occasions compared to ladies and more than 44 instances compared to various other males,” as a
recent paper
in the
Log of Hospital Web Analysis
explains. The report, a study of varied tech-driven strategies to reduce steadily the price of
HIV
in this at-risk populace, factors toward the new generation of (ideally) successful
interventions.
There are lots of interesting solutions planned, while the research’s
pr release details
:
One interactive site, Sexpulse, created by health professionals and computer scientists to a target guys who look for intimate partners online, effectively paid off risky sexual habits. Another website, Keep Writing! (
KIU
), used game titles in lowering rates of exposed rectal intercourse. A 3rd initiative, an online computer game, assisted mitigate embarrassment sensed by some young men with gender with guys, even though the lowering of high-risk intimate behavior wasn’t mathematically
significant.
The process here’s less about
just what
information to supply, since the fundamentals of how
HIV
and
AIDS
work have now been pretty well-publicized at this point, than just how to deliver it, since just discussing that a conduct is risky often is perhaps not enough to change
it.
It’s important to mention that the doesn’t simply apply at gay men; people participate in all kinds of risky actions, from drug abuse to overeating to smoking to presenting sedentary lifestyles, despite having been informed they may be risky. This is why the question of the way to get people to make healthier decisions is actually an enormous area of issue for public-health researchers â designing a powerful conduct intervention may be an extremely complicated action to take. (we’re going to be publishing an extended, more detailed post about subject
eventually.)
A few of the most of use methods logically target social networking sites â peer force has a tendency to influence united states with techniques some other is attractive usually try not to. This was borne out in the
overview:
On social networking sites particularly Twitter and Twitter, well-known individuals can distribute
HIV
-prevention emails for their pals and followers. The posting of info about
HIV
screening via reliable resources on a social networking seemed to increase needs for
HIV
testing packages, one research discovered. Another research learned that using opinion frontrunners to share
HIV
-prevention info via social support systems may increase examination rates and bolster condom usage during anal sex with associates discovered
online.
It’s a tremendously unusual quirk of man thought that presentation the same old details in a somewhat different way can lead to far better effects. Luckily for us, specialists are beginning to take advantage of
this.