Developing Ethnographic and Field Approaches to the Recruitment of Bisexually Active African American Men: The MASAI Project

Background: Men on the Down Low are typically understood as a hard to reach population. In order to understand and address the unique HIV prevention needs of this population, we must utilize innovative outreach methods.

Methods: The MASAI Project (Men Acting with Strength and Initiative) is a qualitative interview study of 60 African American bisexually active men who are HIV- and HIV+ and have varied histories of incarceration in the San Francisco Bay Area. Targeted street and venue-based recruitment incorporates ethnographic mapping strategies to locate social and sexual spaces in which bisexually active men congregate -- including bars, churches, gyms, and public sex environments such as parks, arcades, and sex clubs. Snowball sampling methods utilize respondents' social networks.

Results: Trained ethnographers and outreach workers have developed outreach systems to tap into local communities of bisexually active men who may not identify as gay or bisexual. Through ethnographic approaches that emphasized meeting the population where it was at and gaining a deep understanding of the social and cultural lives of the community, outreach staff were able to build relationships with participants and locate hard-to-find men.

Conclusions: In order to reach hard-to-reach populations of bisexually active men, we must utilize outreach strategies that respect privacy, maintain confidentiality, and build trust and relationships over time. The research methods that we use must resonate with the content of the research itself. In this study, research methods reflected an awareness of the social and structural inequalities that underlie such sexual identities in the first place.