Video Games and Social Networking Could Help Prevent HIV in At-Risk Gay Guys

Long after the top in the American

HELPS

situation,

HIV

still is an issue among gay men, that happen to be diagnosed with the illness at a rate “more than 40 occasions compared to females and most 44 instances that of some other guys,” as a
present report
when you look at the

Log of Health Web Analysis

details. The report, a survey of varied tech-driven approaches to lessen the rate of

HIV

in this at-risk population, things toward the next generation of (hopefully) efficient


interventions.

There are numerous interesting options in the offing, because research’s
news release details
:

One interactive website, Sexpulse, crafted by health professionals and pc boffins to focus on guys whom look for intimate partners on the web, successfully decreased high-risk sexual actions. Another site, Keep Writing! (

KIU

), used game titles in reducing rates of unprotected anal intercourse. A third initiative, a downloadable computer game, assisted mitigate shame sensed by some young men with intercourse with men, although decrease in dangerous intimate behavior wasn’t statistically


considerable.

The challenge here’s less about

exactly what

message to deliver, considering that the fundamentals of just how

HIV

and

HELPS

work are fairly well-publicized now, than how exactly to provide it, since merely outlining that a conduct is unsafe is normally maybe not adequate to improve


it.

You’ll want to point out that doesn’t only apply to gay guys; men and women take part in a number of harmful habits, from substance abuse to overeating to smoking cigarettes to having sedentary lifestyles, despite having been told they are risky. That’s why the question of the way to get people to make more healthy decisions is actually a huge area of worry for public-health scientists — making an effective behavior input can be a very challenging thing to do. (we are going to be posting an extended, much more detailed article about topic


eventually.)

A few of the most of good use methods smartly target social networks â€” peer pressure can influence us with techniques additional is attractive usually usually do not. It was borne call at the


overview:

On social media sites such Twitter and Twitter, popular people can distribute

HIV

-prevention messages for their buddies and supporters. The sharing of data about

HIV

screening join the dating app via this source on a myspace and facebook did actually increase requests for

HIV

screening packages, one study found. Another study found that making use of view frontrunners to share

HIV

-prevention details via social networks may boost evaluating costs and bolster condom usage during anal intercourse with partners discovered


on line.

It’s a rather peculiar quirk of human being thinking that packaging the same kind of information in a somewhat various method may cause better effects. Luckily, specialists are beginning to capitalize on


this.