Surveillance Among Men Who have Sex with Men in the United States: A Comparison of Web-Based and Venue-Based Samples.

Although men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited through web-based and venue-based sampling methods have been compared, no large web-based and venue-based samples using similar survey instruments have been examined in the U.S. This study describes the differences in sociodemographic characteristic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIDS & Behavior Vol. 22; no. 7; pp. 2104 - 2113
Main Authors: Chen, Yen-Tyng, Bowles, Kristina, An, Qian, DiNenno, Elizabeth, Finlayson, Teresa, Hoots, Brooke, Paz-Bailey, Gabriela, Wejnert, Cyprian
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature Jul2018
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:Although men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited through web-based and venue-based sampling methods have been compared, no large web-based and venue-based samples using similar survey instruments have been examined in the U.S. This study describes the differences in sociodemographic characteristics and risk behaviors between the 2012 Web-based HIV Behavioral Survey (n = 3221) and 2011 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (n = 9256). Compared with participants in the venue-based sample, participants in the web-based sample were older, less likely to be black or Hispanic, more likely to have higher socioeconomic status, and more likely to have anal sex without a condom with their last male sex partner. Web-based participants were less likely to have multiple male sex partners, ever injected drugs, been tested for HIV in the past 12 months, and received free condoms than venue-based participants. The method for sampling MSM into a behavioral survey should consider the sub-population of MSM to be reached.