Updated May 17, 2013.
Outreach professionals are always looking for those hard-to-reach populations where HIV education is in desparate need. They take to the streets; to local bars and clubs; to bath houses. Now there is a new way to reach those hard to reach populations...online. The need for this type of outreach is certainly there. The web site Gay.com surveyed 3000 of their site visitors. 84% of those visitors reported they had met sexual partners online (Brown, Washington Post, 2/03).
Other studies have traced STD outbreaks to internet chat rooms. many who have been diagnosed with STDs report the met the person who infected them via the internet.
Why the Internet?
What makes the internet so attractive to those seeking sexual liaisons? First of all, the initial meetings and discussions take place in a safe enviroment...in front of a computer. For obvious reasons, many people fear meeting a stranger in a strange, secluded place. Yet they are looking for sexual contacts. To ease their fear and still meet potential partners, people take to the chat rooms. Before any potentially harmful meeting takes place, two people can get to "know" one another online.
Knowing one another brings us to the second reason the internet is so appealing. People can be whatever or whoever they please. Six feet tall, blue eyes and blond hair....an artist....an athelete...single....or "well endowed". The internet provides a safety net for those who want to pretend.
On the other side of that same coin, chat rooms allow people to be themselves without the fear of rejection.
Being cast aside online is a far cry from being rejected in person. Chatters are free to learn about one another without the pressures of that uncomfortable "first meeting".
Finally, the internet can be a very private place. Many people exploring their sexual desires want to do so under the umbrella of anonymity. For instance, many heterosexual men look for male sexual partners to explore their bisexual desires. They wish to keep these relationships and their feelings of bisexuality from their wives or girlfriends. Chat rooms are a perfect place to do so.
Is there a need for online outreach?
Simply put, yes there certainly is. Several studies have linked outbreaks of STD's such as syphilis with partners found in internet chat rooms. Two studies presented at the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference noted that online chatrooms and Web sites are replacing gay bathhouses and sex clubs as the most popular meeting points for arranging high-risk sex. In fact the need is being recognized by prevention and outreach agencies across the country. Funding streams are now allocating funds to maintain online outreach staff. Mind you, the funds are limited but the fact that any money is available unscores the perceived importance and value of online outreach. Programs are now in place in Detroit, Seattle, Boston, Miami and Los Angeles.
What is the advantage of online outreach?
Experts agree, people who use the internet to find sexual partners have a greater number of partners than those who find sexual partners the traditional way. In addition, many of their partners are nonlocatable which makes partner notification, testing, and counseling problematic. Online outreach gives prevention specialists another tool with which to educate about safer sex and to locate potentially exposed persons. In addition, many times, online counselors are reaching people at precisely the time they are deciding whether or not to have anonymouos sex. Terrence Lo, epidemiologist with the California Department of Health Services points out that by providing anonymity, the internet allows counselors to reach those people who may be reluctant to discuss safer sex issues in other settings.
Does online outreach work?
How effective is online outreach? It's too soon to tell however some programs are showing promise. From January 2003 to October 2003, The Midwest AIDS Prevention Project in Ferndale Michigan spent over 100 hours online in chat rooms. According to their data, 289 client interventions took place (Resource: Midwest AIDS Prention Project, November, 2003). How many of those people would have engaged any prevention efforts offline?
Reaching the unreachable...online outreach and prevention. Using the internet to educate...ironic...that's what the founding fathers of the internet had intended all along.
Outreach professionals are always looking for those hard-to-reach populations where HIV education is in desparate need. They take to the streets; to local bars and clubs; to bath houses. Now there is a new way to reach those hard to reach populations...online. The need for this type of outreach is certainly there. The web site Gay.com surveyed 3000 of their site visitors. 84% of those visitors reported they had met sexual partners online (Brown, Washington Post, 2/03).
Other studies have traced STD outbreaks to internet chat rooms. many who have been diagnosed with STDs report the met the person who infected them via the internet.
Why the Internet?
What makes the internet so attractive to those seeking sexual liaisons? First of all, the initial meetings and discussions take place in a safe enviroment...in front of a computer. For obvious reasons, many people fear meeting a stranger in a strange, secluded place. Yet they are looking for sexual contacts. To ease their fear and still meet potential partners, people take to the chat rooms. Before any potentially harmful meeting takes place, two people can get to "know" one another online.
Knowing one another brings us to the second reason the internet is so appealing. People can be whatever or whoever they please. Six feet tall, blue eyes and blond hair....an artist....an athelete...single....or "well endowed". The internet provides a safety net for those who want to pretend.
On the other side of that same coin, chat rooms allow people to be themselves without the fear of rejection.
Being cast aside online is a far cry from being rejected in person. Chatters are free to learn about one another without the pressures of that uncomfortable "first meeting".
Finally, the internet can be a very private place. Many people exploring their sexual desires want to do so under the umbrella of anonymity. For instance, many heterosexual men look for male sexual partners to explore their bisexual desires. They wish to keep these relationships and their feelings of bisexuality from their wives or girlfriends. Chat rooms are a perfect place to do so.
Is there a need for online outreach?
Simply put, yes there certainly is. Several studies have linked outbreaks of STD's such as syphilis with partners found in internet chat rooms. Two studies presented at the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference noted that online chatrooms and Web sites are replacing gay bathhouses and sex clubs as the most popular meeting points for arranging high-risk sex. In fact the need is being recognized by prevention and outreach agencies across the country. Funding streams are now allocating funds to maintain online outreach staff. Mind you, the funds are limited but the fact that any money is available unscores the perceived importance and value of online outreach. Programs are now in place in Detroit, Seattle, Boston, Miami and Los Angeles.
What is the advantage of online outreach?
Experts agree, people who use the internet to find sexual partners have a greater number of partners than those who find sexual partners the traditional way. In addition, many of their partners are nonlocatable which makes partner notification, testing, and counseling problematic. Online outreach gives prevention specialists another tool with which to educate about safer sex and to locate potentially exposed persons. In addition, many times, online counselors are reaching people at precisely the time they are deciding whether or not to have anonymouos sex. Terrence Lo, epidemiologist with the California Department of Health Services points out that by providing anonymity, the internet allows counselors to reach those people who may be reluctant to discuss safer sex issues in other settings.
Does online outreach work?
How effective is online outreach? It's too soon to tell however some programs are showing promise. From January 2003 to October 2003, The Midwest AIDS Prevention Project in Ferndale Michigan spent over 100 hours online in chat rooms. According to their data, 289 client interventions took place (Resource: Midwest AIDS Prention Project, November, 2003). How many of those people would have engaged any prevention efforts offline?
Reaching the unreachable...online outreach and prevention. Using the internet to educate...ironic...that's what the founding fathers of the internet had intended all along.
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