| Title |
Linking young men who have sex with men (YMSM) to STI physicians: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in China
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BMC Infectious Diseases, May 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12879-018-3145-2 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Bolin Cao, Peipei Zhao, Cedric Bien, Stephen Pan, Weiming Tang, Julia Watson, Guodong Mi, Yi Ding, Zhenzhou Luo, Joseph D. Tucker |
| Abstract |
Many young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are reluctant to seek health services and trust local physicians. Online information seeking may encourage YMSM to identify and see trustworthy physicians, obtain sexual health services, and obtain testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This study examined online STI information seeking behaviors among Chinese YMSM and its association with offline physician visits. We conducted a nationwide online survey among YMSM through WeChat, the largest social media platform in China. We collected information on individual demographics, sexual behaviors, online STI information seeking, offline STI testing, and STI physician visits. We examined the most commonly used platforms (search engines, governmental websites, counseling websites, generic social media, gay mobile apps, and mobile medical apps) and their trustworthiness. We assessed interest and willingness to use an MSM-friendly physician finder function embedded within a gay mobile app. Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlation between online STI information searching and offline physician visits. A total of 503 men completed the survey. Most men (425/503, 84.5%) searched for STI information online. The most commonly used platform to obtain STI information were search engines (402/425, 94.5%), followed by gay mobile apps (201/425, 47.3%). Men reported high trustworthiness of information received from gay mobile apps. Men also reported high interest (465/503, 92.4%) and willingness (463/503, 92.0%) to use a MSM-friendly physician finder function within such apps. Both using general social media (aOR =1.14, 95%CI: 1.04-1.26) and mobile medical apps (aOR =1.16, 95%CI: 1.01-1.34) for online information seeking were associated with visiting a physician. Online STI information seeking is common and correlated with visiting a physician among YMSM. Cultivating partnerships with the emerging mobile medical apps may be useful for disseminating STI information and providing better physician services to YMSM. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | 1 | 25% |
| Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 1 | 25% |
| Unknown | 2 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 50% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 25% |
| Scientists | 1 | 25% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 117 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 117 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 25 | 21% |
| Researcher | 15 | 13% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 11 | 9% |
| Student > Bachelor | 8 | 7% |
| Other | 6 | 5% |
| Other | 12 | 10% |
| Unknown | 40 | 34% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing and Health Professions | 19 | 16% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 19 | 16% |
| Psychology | 10 | 9% |
| Social Sciences | 8 | 7% |
| Computer Science | 5 | 4% |
| Other | 11 | 9% |
| Unknown | 45 | 38% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 May 2018.
All research outputs
#7,246,025
of 23,065,445 outputs
Outputs from BMC Infectious Diseases
#2,405
of 7,733 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#125,080
of 329,138 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Infectious Diseases
#40
of 128 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,065,445 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 68th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,733 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.3. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 68% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 329,138 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 128 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 68% of its contemporaries.