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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Are all MSM equal? Outreach encounters with bisexual men and non gay-identified (NGI) men who have sex with men

Valorie Eckert, MPH, Kevin Sitter, MSW, MPH, and Steven Truax, PhD. HIV Prevention Research and Evaluation Section, California Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS, 1616 Capitol Ave, Suite 616, MS 7700 P.O. Box 997426, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 95899-7426, 916-449-5801, ksitter@dhs.ca.gov

ISSUE: In the prevention world, one size rarely fits all. Men who have sex with men, or MSM, as a group comprise a range of attitudes, knowledge and behavior—all reflecting different risks, needs and potential for contracting or transmitting HIV.

DESCRIPTION: Outreach activities conducted across California are recorded via the Evaluating Local Interventions (ELI) system. In order to better evaluate client needs and services, a long form was developed as an alternative to the contact short form. This analysis focuses on contacts with MSM made by 27 agencies across California from 2002 to 2005 as recorded on the Outreach Long Form.

LESSONS LEARNED: Of the 6,649 MSM contacts, 80.7% identified as gay, 11.8% as bisexual and 5.4% identified as heterosexual yet reported sex with a man (NGI). HIV-positivity rates: Gay: 9.34%; Bisexual: 3.44%; NGI: 0.84%. Both NGI (OR=0.68; CI: 0.55, 0.84) and bisexual men (OR=0.76; CI: 0.66, 0.87) were less likely than gay men to know their HIV status. Multivariate analysis reveals that NGI and bisexual MSM were significantly more likely to receive a test at the outreach encounter as compared to their gay MSM counterparts (OR=4.74; CI:3.75, 6.01) and (OR=2.45; CI:2.05, 2.95). There was no significant difference in whether additional referrals were made.

RECOMMENDATIONS: The ability to distinguish MSM sub-populations in evaluation systems is important in the targeting, provision and evaluation of prevention services.

Learning Objectives: LEARNING OBJECTIVES