Socio-cultural Contexts and Young Men's Sexual Lives

STI/HIV incidence continues to rise, particularly among subgroups of young men who have sex with men. New STI/HIV interventions are being launched in order to address the escalating needs of young men; however, few studies have examined how features of socio-cultural contexts affect young men's uptake of new and unfolding STI/HIV interventions. For example, for today's young men, the availability of effective treatment for HIV infection is a potential "game changer" and the socio-cultural contexts in which they launch their sexual careers are profoundly different from those experienced by previous generations. Today's young men are exposed to evolving gender stereotypes, a proliferation of online dating or 'hook-up' platforms, and other factors that shape their sexual lives. Providing more "knowledge" to young men might help them engage in risk-reduction practices and bio-technical interventions (e.g., antiretroviral-based prevention strategies, such as PrEP) may provide added technical capacities to reduce risk, but successful and sustainable interventions need to account for evolving implementation contexts. Thus, the proposed study is timely and important because it can help intervention planners to understand today's socio-cultural contexts and their influence on STI/HIV-related risks experienced by today's young men. In the BC context, we are studying three intervention programs designed to reduce young men's STI/HIV risks: (i) the BC Centre for Disease Control's GetCheckedOnline; (ii) YouthCO's Mpowerment YVR; and (iii) the BC Ministry of Health's Provincial Strategy for STI Prevention, Testing and Treatment. The data generated from the proposed study will inform the effective and ethical adaptation and scaling up of these interventions in ways that enhance their capacity to positively affect the sexual health of young men at risk for STI/HIV.