239150 Navigating for sexual health information online-Decoding Homeless Youth's help-seeking behavior in networked spaces

Tuesday, November 1, 2011: 12:50 PM

Anamika Barman-Adhikari, MA, MSW, PhD Student , School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Eric Rice, PhD , School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Objective: Research documents that runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are reluctant to seek help from traditional health providers. The internet could be useful in engaging this population and meeting their sexual health-information needs. Utilizing Pescosolido's (1992) Network Episode Model (NEM) and Andersen's Behavioral Model (1995), we tested a model for sexual health information seeking online among RHY. Methods: 201 RHY were recruited June 2009 in Los Angeles and were surveyed regarding internet use, means of accessing the internet, and with whom they connected via social networking technology. Results: Multivariate logistic regression models revealed that more females than males (OR=.55) and more gay males (OR=10.7) than any other gender or sexuality sought sexual health information online. More significantly, as Pescosolido (1992) stresses in her NEM model, the structure of social network ties and the content of interactions across ties were found to be critical correlates of online sexual health information seeking. With respect to the antecedent structure of ties, continued connections to parents online was significantly associated with HIV/STI information seeking (OR=3.9). Likewise, for content of interactions, youth who received health forwards relative to those who did not, reported significantly higher rates of HIV/STI (OR = 3.8) and HIV testing information seeking (OR = 2.4). Implications: The internet can be utilized for sexual health-information dissemination and as a resource for providers to link transient, runaway and homeless youth to care. The internet would also allow providers to create personalized and meaningful content that is tailored to these youth's situation.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify what proportion of homeless youth and assess how much access homeless youth have to the internet. Identify how the structure and content of online ties is associated with proactive help seeking behaviors on the internet. Discuss how the internet may be utilized for sexual health-information dissemination and as a resource for providers to link transient, runaway and homeless youth to care. Explain how the internet could emerge as a complementary avenue through which interventions can be delivered and how providers can tailor these interventions for the unique needs of each of their clients and also seek their input.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Internet

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conceptualized the study and analyzed the results.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.