Abstract
Mobile phone social networking applications such as GRINDR are potential tools for recruitment of men who have sex with men (MSM) for HIV prevention research. Demographics and sexual risk behaviors of men recruited through GRINDR and through traditional media were compared. GRINDR participants were younger (mean age 31 vs. 42, p < 0.0001), more White identified (44 vs. 30 %, p < 0.01), and had more sex partners in the previous 14 days (1.88 vs. 1.10, p < 0.05) than other recruits. Email responses were less successful for enrollment than phone calls (5 vs. 50 %). This approach resulted in successful recruitment of younger and more educated, White identified MSM.
References
Lester R, Karanja S. Mobile phones: exceptional tools for HIV/AIDS, health, and crisis management. Lancet Infect Dis. 2008;8(12):738–9.
Ybarra ML, Bull SS. Current trends in Internet and cell phone-based HIV prevention and intervention programs. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. 2007;4(4):201–7.
Darrow WW, Biersteker S. Short-term impact evaluation of a social marketing campaign to prevent syphilis among men who have sex with men. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(2):337–43. Epub 2008 Jan 2.
Rosser BR, Oakes JM, Konstan J, Hooper S, Horvath KJ, Danilenko GP, Nygaard KE, Smolenski DJ. Reducing HIV risk behavior of men who have sex with men through persuasive computing: results of the Men’s INTernet Study-II. AIDS. 2010;24(13):2099–107.
Chiasson MA, Hirshfield S, Rietmeijer C. HIV prevention and care in the digital age. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2010;55(Suppl 2):S94–7.
Rhodes SD, Vissman AT, Stowers J, Miller C, McCoy TP, Hergenrather KC, Wilkin AM, Reece M, Bachmann LH, Ore A, Ross MW, Hendrix E, Eng E. A CBPR partnership increases HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM): outcome findings from a pilot test of the CyBER/testing internet intervention. Health Educ Behav. 2011;38(3):311–20. Epub 2011 Mar 10.
Jenkins RA, Recruiting substance-using men who have sex with men into HIV prevention research: current status and future directions. AIDS Behav. 2011. [Epub ahead of print].
Bowen AM, Williams ML, Daniel CM, Clayton S. Internet based HIV prevention research targeting rural MSM: feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy. J Behav Med. 2008;31(6):463–77. Epub 4 Sep 2008.
Cole-Lewis H, Kershaw T. Text messaging as a tool for behavior change in disease prevention and management. Epidemiol Rev. 2010;32(1):56–69. Epub 2010 Mar 30.
Eyrich-Garg KM. Mobile phone technology: a new paradigm for the prevention, treatment, and research of the non-sheltered “street” homeless? J Urban Health. 2010;87(3):365–80.
Rosser BR, Wilkerson JM, Smolenski DJ, Oakes JM, Konstan J, Horvath KJ, Kilian GR, Novak DS, Danilenko GP, Morgan R. The future of Internet-based HIV prevention: a report on key findings from the Men’s INTernet (MINTS-I, II) Sex Studies. AIDS Behav. 2011;15(Suppl 1):S91–100.
Sullivan PS, Khosropour CM, Luisi N, Amsden M, Coggia T, Wingood GM, DiClemente RJ. Bias in online recruitment and retention of racial and ethnic minority men who have sex with men. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13(2):e38.
Schneider J, Makelarski JA, Van Haitsma M, Lipton RB, Abramsohn E, Lauderdale DS, Lindau ST. Differential access to digital communication technology: association with health and health survey recruitment within an African-American underserviced urban population. J Urban Health. 2011;88(3):479–92.
Khosropour CM, Sullivan PS. Predictors of retention in an online follow-up study of men who have sex with men. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13(3):e47.
Prescott RJ, Counsell CE, Gillespie WJ, Grant AM, Russell IT, Kiauka S, Colthart IR, Ross S, Shepherd SM, Russell D: Factors that limit the quality, number and progress of randomised controlled trials [Review]. Health Technol Assess.1999;3:1–143.
Lovato LC, Hill K, Hertert S, Hunninghake DB, Probstfield JL. Recruitment for Controlled Trials: literature Summary and Annotated Bibliography. Control Clin Trials. 1997;18:328–57.
Puffer S. Torgerson D: Recruitment difficulties in randomised controlled trials. Control Clin Trials. 2003;24(3S):S214–5.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2005;16(2) for the year ended. 2004.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alert from Ronald O. Valdiserri, MD, MPH, Deputy Director, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. Atlanta, GA: 2001a [June 29, 2004]. Taking action to combat increases in STDs and HIV risk among men who have sex with men. Dated April 30, 2001at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/news/92288_AED_CDC_report-0427c.htm.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No Turning Back. Atlanta: CDC; 2001.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV Prevention Strategic Plan through 2005. Atlanta: CDC; 2001.
Gross M. The second wave will drown us. Am J Public Health. 2003;93:872–81.
Lampinen TM, Ogilvie G, Chan K, et al. Sustained increase in HIV-1 incidence since 2000 among men who have sex with men in British Columbia. Canada. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2005;40:242–4.
McFarland W, Chen S, Weide D, Kohn R, Klausner J. Gay Asian men in San Francisco follow the international trend: increases in rates of unprotected anal intercourse and sexually transmitted diseases, 1999–2002. AIDS Educ Prev. 2004;16:13–8.
Murphy G, Charlett A, Jordan LF, Osner N, Gill ON, Parry JV. HIV incidence appears constant in men who have sex with men despite widespread use of effective antiretroviral therapy. AIDS. 2004;18:265–72.
Trends in HIV/AIDS diagnosis—33 states, 2001–2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:1149–1153.
Chen SY, Weide D, McFarland W. Are the recent increases in sexual risk behavior among older or younger men who have sex with men? Answer: both. AIDS. 2003;17:942–3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS among youth. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/youth.htm. Accessed August 3, 2006.
Rangel MC, Gavin L, Reed C, Fowler MG, Lee LM. Epidemiology of HIV and AIDS among adolescents and young adults in the United States. J Adolesc Health. 2006;39:156–63.
McFarlane M, Bull SS, Rietmeijer CA. Young adults on the Internet: risk behaviors for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV(1). J Adolesc Health. 2002;31:11–6.
Rainie L, Packel D. More online, doing more: 16 million newcomers gain Internet access in the last half of 2000 as women, minorities, and families with modest incomes continue to surge online. Washington, DC: The Pew Internet and American Life Project; 2001.
Birnbaum MH, Decision making in the lab and on the Web. In: Birnbaum, MH, editor. Psychological experiments on the Internet. San Diego: Academic Press;2000. p. 3–34.
Chiasson M, Hirschfield S, Humberstone M, et al. The internet and high-risk sex among men who have sex with men [oral abstract]. In:10th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2003;8: 37.
Klausner J, Wolf W, Fischer-Ponce L, et al. Tracing a syphilis outbreak through cyberspace. JAMA. 2000;284:447–9.
Elford J, Bolding G, Sherr L. Seeking sex on the internet and sexual risk behaviour among gay men using London gyms. AIDS. 2001;15:1409–15.
Rietmeijer CA, Bull S, McFarlane M, et al. Risks and benefits of the internet for populations at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs): results of an STI clinic survey. Sex Transm Dis. 2003;30:15–9.
McFarlane M, Bull S, Rietmeijer CA. The internet as a newly emerging risk environment for sexually transmitted diseases. JAMA. 2000;284:443–6.
Bauermeister JA, Leslie-Santana M, Johns MM, Pingel E, Eisenberg A. Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now: romantic and casual partner-seeking online among young men who have sex with men. AIDS Behav. 2011;15(2):261–72.
Benotsch EG, Kalichman S, Cage M. Men who have met sex partners via the Internet: prevalence, predictors, and implications for HIV prevention. Arch Sex Behav. 2002;31:177–83.
Gross M. The second wave will drown us. Am J Public Health. 2003;93:872–81.
Simmons. Telemundo Network. Hispanic market update. vol. 7. Simmon’s Hispanic Study.2000 p. 3.
Liau A, Millett G, Marks G, Meta-analytic examination of online sex-seeking and sexual risk behavior among men who have sex with men. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2006;33(5).
Acknowledgments
UCLA Microbicide Development Program Project 3 funded by NIH Grant IPCP U19 AI060614.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Burrell, E.R., Pines, H.A., Robbie, E. et al. Use of the Location-Based Social Networking Application GRINDR as a Recruitment Tool in Rectal Microbicide Development Research. AIDS Behav 16, 1816–1820 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-012-0277-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-012-0277-z