257359 Correlates of protective and risky sexual behaviors among immigrant Latino MSM

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Paul A. Gilbert, MSPH , Department of Health Education, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
Jorge Alonzo, JD , Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Stacy Duck, BA , 401B North Ivey Ave, Chatham Social Health Council, Siler City, NC
Eugenia Eng, MPH, DrPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Scott Rhodes, PhD, MPH, CHES , Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Background: Since 1990, immigrant Latino populations in the US Southeast have grown exponentially. Concurrently, the region has faced an ongoing epidemic of HIV and STDs among racial/ethnic minorities. We sought to better understand both protective and risky sexual behaviors among immigrant Latino MSM in North Carolina.

Methods: Guided by a community-based participatory research partnership, we recruited 190 immigrant Latino MSM via respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to complete a behavioral assessment. We tested bivariate associations of demographic and psycho-social variables with protective and risky sexual behaviors, then used a forward-stepwise procedure to construct multivariable models of behaviors. We adjusted for the recruitment strategy using sampling weights generated by the RDS Analysis Tool.

Results: Among protective behaviors, STD counseling or screening was positively associated with HIV knowledge (aOR=1.28; 95% CI=1.02, 1.62), STD knowledge (aOR=1.67; 95% CI=1.21, 2.32), and condom-use efficacy (aOR=3.86; 95% CI=1.78, 8.37). HIV counseling or testing was positively associated with STD knowledge (aOR=2.42; 95% CI=1.49, 3.94) and condom-use efficacy (aOR=6.28; 95% CI=2.35, 16.82). Among risky behaviors, unprotected anal sex was positively associated with being in a monogamous relationship (aOR=3.92; 95% CI=1.04, 14.72) but negatively associated with traditional male role attitudes (aOR=0.19; 95% CI=0.40, 0.90).

Conclusions: These findings on correlates of both protective and risky sexual behaviors provide a more complete understanding of HIV risk among immigrant Latino MSM. Relationship status, among other contextual variables, warrants further examination as a determinant of HIV risk. We discuss potential implications for HIV and STD prevention interventions for this population.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1) Describe demographic and psycho-social factors that increase odds of protective sexual behaviors among immigrant Latino MSM. 2) Describe demographic and psycho-social factors that increase odds of risky sexual behaviors among immigrant Latino MSM. 3) Identify potential leverage points for designing and evaluating an intervention to prevent HIV and STDs among immigrant Latino MSM.

Keywords: Sexual Behavior, Latino

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conceived of and performed that analyses described in the abstract.
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.

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