Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Social, relational and network determinants of condom use and HIV testing were examined among men who have sex with men MSM in Beirut. Multi-level social factors influence sexual health in MSM. Compared to the general population rate of less than. Contributing factors to this heightened prevalence may be the gay-related stigma and discrimination common in conservative, Muslim dominant settings Mumtaz et al.
Studies of determinants of condom use among MSM have typically focused on individual-level factors Schwarcz et al. The level of connectedness within a network, or the extent to which information travels through specific individuals within a network, can influence the transfer of information, normative perceptions, and disease Liu et al. In this paper we report on analyses that examined the social determinants of sexual risk behavior and HIV testing among MSM in Beirut, including characteristics associated with the relationship to the sex partner, peer norms and support for sexual health, and social network characteristics.
Identifying such determinants will inform the development of HIV prevention interventions that address partner, peer and network level influences. Standard respondent-driven sampling RDS methodology was used to recruit the sample between May and December of Eligibility criteria consisted of being biologically male and male-identified, age 18 years or older, fluent in English or Arabic, residing in greater Beirut, and having had oral or anal sex with a man in the past 12 months.
All participants, including seeds, received 4 recruitment coupons to recruit members of their social network, resulting in up to 8 waves of participants from seeds.
Participants were instructed to give a coupon to eligible MSM peers who were interested in participating, and to inform the recruit to call the study coordinator for coupon verification, eligibility screening, verbal consent procedures and scheduling of an interview.
