Concurrent sexual partnerships and HIV testing among heterosexual Black men in Ontario, Canada: findings from the weSpeak study

ABSTRACT

Background

African, Caribbean, and Black men constitute the second-highest category of males living with HIV in Ontario, which increased from 15.4% to 17% between 2011 and 2016. Previous studies have attributed this disproportionately higher rate to multiple concurrent sexual partnerships and low rates of HIV testing. Drawing on theoretical constructs of the health belief model (HBM), this study examined the relationship between multiple concurrent sexual partnerships and the uptake of HIV testing services among heterosexual Black men in Ontario.

Methods

Using a cross-sectional sample data of 829 individuals from four cities in Ontario, we employed the multinomial logit analysis to examine the relationship between multiple sexual partnerships and the uptake of HIV testing services among heterosexual Black men.

Results

The findings show that heterosexual Black men with multiple concurrent sexual partners were more than twice (RRR = 2.306, P < 0.01) as likely to test for HIV within the past 12 months when compared to those with one partner. Furthermore, being an immigrant, having good knowledge of HIV transmission, and earning lower annual income predicted higher odds of testing while sexual debut between the ages of 16 and 20 years, no visit to a healthcare provider in the past year and difficulty accessing healthcare significantly predicted lower likelihood of testing for HIV.

Conclusions

These findings align with the theoretical constructs of the health belief model but more importantly, they suggest heterosexual Black men with concurrent sexual partners may be aware of their HIV risk and are taking measures to know their serostatus. Hence, making HIV screening services accessible and at safer spaces could increase their use of HIV screening services.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple concurrent sexual partnerships
• HIV testing
• heterosexual Black men
• health belief model
• Ontario
• Canada

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the research participants for their willingness to participating in the study. We also like to thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network for funding this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [Grant # FRN 138354] and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network [Grant #1052]. The funding bodies did not play any role in the design, analysis and interpretation of results.