Video Games and Social Media Could Help Prevent HIV in At-Risk Gay Men


Photo: Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images

Long after the peak associated with American

AIDS

situation,

HIV

remains a major problem among gay males, who will be clinically determined to have the condition at a level “more than 40 occasions regarding females and most 44 occasions that of different guys,” as a
previous paper
within the

Log of Medical Online Research

explains. The report, a survey of several tech-driven how to lower the price of

HIV

within at-risk populace, factors toward the new generation of (hopefully) successful


interventions.

There are numerous interesting solutions planned, as the learn’s
press release details
:


One interactive internet site, Sexpulse, designed by health care professionals and computer scientists to target men exactly who look for intimate partners on the web, effectively paid off high-risk sexual behaviors. Another website, Continue The Good Work! (

KIU

), made use of game titles to help reduce prices of unprotected rectal intercourse. A third step, an online video game, assisted mitigate shame thought by some teenage boys who have gender with guys, though the lowering of risky intimate behavior wasn’t mathematically


significant.

The process listed here is much less about

what

information to produce, given that the fundamentals of how

HIV

and

AIDS

work were fairly well-publicized at this point, than tips provide it, since simply explaining that a behavior is actually harmful might be maybe not sufficient to alter


it.

It’s important to suggest this particular doesn’t merely apply at gay males; people engage in a number of harmful behaviors, from drug abuse to overeating to smoking cigarettes to presenting sedentary lifestyles, despite having been advised they are risky. This is exactly why practical question of ways to get people to create healthiest choices is a huge area of concern for public-health scientists — designing an effective conduct input may be an extremely challenging move to make. (We’ll be publishing a lengthier, more detailed post on this topic


eventually.)

Several of the most useful methods smartly target social support systems â€” peer pressure tends to influence you in many ways some other is attractive frequently don’t. It was borne out in the


review:


On internet sites eg Facebook and Twitter, preferred people can distribute

HIV

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

HIV

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

HIV

screening systems, one study discovered. Another research discovered that utilizing view leaders to disseminate

HIV

-prevention info via social networks may boost evaluation rates and bolster condom use during anal intercourse with lovers located


online.


It is a tremendously strange quirk of real reason that packing the same kind of details in a somewhat various method can result in a lot better effects. Thank goodness, professionals are beginning to exploit


this.