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. 2018 Mar;22(3):806-818.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-016-1668-3.

Patterns of Social Affiliations and Healthcare Engagement Among Young, Black, Men Who Have Sex With Men

Rachel L Behler  1 , Benjamin T Cornwell  2 , John A Schneider  3   4
Affiliations

Patterns of Social Affiliations and Healthcare Engagement Among Young, Black, Men Who Have Sex With Men

Rachel L Behler et al. AIDS Behav. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

Little work has examined how individuals' social affiliations-the venues in which they meet friends and engage in informal social interaction-influence their engagement with public health services. We investigate how links to these local places shape access to information and exposure to health-seeking behavior. Using longitudinal data from a respondent-driven sample of 618 young black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) in Chicago, we identify different sets of social venues that connect YBMSM. We then examine how YBMSM's connections within this network influence their receipt of HIV prevention and treatment services and knowledge of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Our results show that YBMSM's positions within Chicago's venue network shape the types of health-related services they access, net of demographic, structural, and community covariates. Men with affiliations that are linked to the city's gay enclave are most likely to know about PrEP, while men with affiliations that are predominately in the black community demonstrate improved HIV treatment outcomes. Outreach engaging MSM beyond venues in gay enclaves is needed.

Keywords: Affiliations; HIV; Health disparities; Men who have sex with men; Minority health; Neighborhoods; Public health; Social networks.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to report. The writing and content of this paper is the sole responsibility of the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Respondents (circles) shaded according to cluster membership in a two-mode network visualized using spring embedding layout in UCINET 6. Respondents with Gay Enclave cluster affiliations are green, with Bridges affiliations are yellow, and with Black Community affiliations are red. The venues to which individuals are tied are designated as numbered white squares, labeled below. Outsiders-- respondents without venue affiliations-- are not visualized.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Predicted probability of continuum care stage for HIV-positive respondents at the nine-month follow-up by venue affiliation cluster based on Model 2, Table 3, UConnect (2013 – 2016). Note: Statistical significance denoted based on cluster coefficient significance relative to baseline category (Outsiders) in Model 2, Table 3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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