Acceptability and feasibility of a Peer Mentor program to train young Black men who have sex with men to promote HIV and STI home-testing to their social network members.

ABSTRACT

Young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) experience persistently high rates of undiagnosed HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and testing rates remain sub-optimal. Home-based testing (HBT) has been found to be acceptable among MSM and while awareness about HBT is relatively high, uptake has been low. Peer-based approaches have been shown to be effective in reducing HIV risk behavior, yet have not been used to increase utilization of HBT. The purpose of this study was to assess acceptability and feasibility of a program to train YBMSM as Peer Mentors to use and promote HIV and STI home-based testing and specimen collection to their social network members. Fifteen YBMSM ages 18–30 completed in-depth structured interviews and were asked to talk with their social network members about home-based testing. Participants reported acceptability of the Peer Mentor role and two-thirds had conversations with diverse social network members (e.g., male and female, sex partners, friends, family). Facilitators of peer outreach included the novelty of home-based testing, confidence about accuracy of the tests, and resources for linkage to care. Barriers included concerns about negative responses and disclosure of sexual identity/behavior. Results of this study suggest that YBMSM are willing and able to promote HBT to their social networks. This is a promising approach to increasing dissemination of HBT kits for both HIV and STI testing.

KEYWORDS:

• Home-based testing
• HIV
• STI
• Black MSM
• social network

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.