A novel intervention to address sexual partner selection among at risk HIV negative men who have sex with men

Background: HIV continues to disproportionately affect men who have sex with men (MSM) with roughly half of incident HIV diagnoses occurring among this group. As a result of the impact and prevalence of HIV among MSM, multiple strategies for reducing the likelihood of HIV infection have emerged. One common HIV risk reduction strategy is to limit unprotected sex partners to those who are of the same HIV status, a practice referred to as serosorting. Although serosorting is commonly practiced for risk reduction, it is closely linked to HIV transmission. MSM who select partners based on HIV status risk HIV infection due to infrequent HIV testing, lack of overt HIV status disclosure, co-occurring sexually transmitted infections, and acute HIV infection. Methods: For the current study, a brief, one-on-one, peer counselor-delivered intervention, based on informed decision making, was created and implemented to address the limitations of serosorting. One hundred forty nine men were screened for risk behaviors, recruited and randomly assigned to either a time matched, comparison control or to an intervention condition addressing sexual partner selection. Results: Findings showed that men in the intervention condition reported fewer sexual partners compared to the control group at follow ups when controlling for baseline partners. Conclusions: Reducing number of sexual partners can result in decreased incidence of HIV, thus interventions, such as the one presented here, addressing risks associated with serosorting should be implemented into existing health care infrastructure.