Social Network Characteristics Associated with More Frequent HIV and STI Prevention Conversations: The N2 Cohort Study in Chicago.
Cho-Hee Shrader, Duncan Dt, R Driver, Y-T Chen, J Knox, K Bond, E R Weinstein, M Durrell, H Hanson, R Eavou, W C Goedel, J A Schneider
Author Information
Cho-Hee Shrader: ICAP at Columbia University, 60 Haven Ave B120, New York, NY, United States of America. choshrader@gmail.com. ORCID
Duncan Dt: Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, United States of America. ORCID
R Driver: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States of America. ORCID
Y-T Chen: Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States of America. ORCID
J Knox: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States of America. ORCID
K Bond: Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, City University of New York School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States of America. ORCID
E R Weinstein: Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States of America. ORCID
M Durrell: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America. ORCID
H Hanson: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
R Eavou: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
W C Goedel: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States of America. ORCID
J A Schneider: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America. ORCID
Black cisgender sexually minoritized men (SMM) and transgender women (TW) are subgroups at highest risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the US. We sought to identify factors facilitating continued conversations - social reinforcement - surrounding HIV/STI prevention among this subgroup. Participants were recruited in Chicago from 2018 to 2019 from community health spaces. Participants provided information about themselves (level 2) and ⩽5 confidants (level 1). We used multinomial multilevel modeling to identify associations with HIV/STI prevention conversation frequency. A total of 370 participants provided information on 987 confidants (mean = 2.6). We found significantly positive associations between having biweekly or more often HIV/STI prevention conversations and a confidant being a kin family member, older by 15 years or more, racially homophilous, and emotionally close. Future interventions should harness social networks by including components that consider racial homophily, respect for elders, and strong ties, in addition to applying kin family systems interventions approaches and decreasing stigma surrounding HIV/STIs.
