Sexual Health Information Seeking On the Internet Among Homeless Youth

Purpose: Adolescents' online interactions have emerged as an important platform where major adolescent developmental issues, such as sexuality and identity are fostered (Cooper et. al, 1999; Subrahmanyam et al., 2004; Suzuki & Calzo, 2004). While there has been a growing body of work on internet use among normative adolescents, there has been little research on internet use among high risk youth. Research has shown that homeless youth are the least likely to seek help from traditional health providers (Moreno, Parks & Richardson, 2007; Malow et. al; 2007). Therefore the internet could be particularly useful in engaging this population and meeting their sexual health needs. The purpose of this study was to understand the frequency of internet use and patterns of online sexual health information seeking among homeless youth. Method: A sample of 201 youth was recruited between June 1 and June 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California at one drop-in agency serving homeless youth. Sexual health uses of the internet were based on two yes/no questions: Sex Information; “Have you ever used the internet to find out answers about sex and sexuality?”. HIV/AIDS Information: Have you ever used the internet to find out information about HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases?” Time Spent Online was an ordinal variable based on the question “How often do you use the internet? Separate regression models were conducted to predict sexual health information seeking by age, gender, sexual orientation, time homeless and time spent online. Results: Most youth (84%) used the internet once a week or more, while less than a quarter used it more than 1 hour each day. Nearly half of the adolescents reported having used the internet to look for answers about sex and sexuality and approximately half used the internet to find out answers to their questions about HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted infections. Males were less likely to use the internet to seek information about sexuality (OR=.48, 95% C.I .25-.92) or HIV/AIDS (OR=.38, 95% C.I .19-.74). MSM were more likely to seek both kinds of information and increased internet access increased the odds of both kinds of information seeking (OR=1.49; 95% C.I .62-3.54; OR=5.60, 95% C.I. 2.02-15.5). Discussion: This study indicates that despite being homeless, internet use is widespread among this population and that youth are actively using the internet to seek answers to their questions regarding sexuality and HIV/AIDS. This has important implications for interventions. The internet could emerge as an alternate avenue which could be used to engage hard to reach youth. Also, many interventions are able to influence short term behavior; youth are not able to sustain this behavior for a protracted period after the intervention is over. HIV prevention interventions conducted over the internet (or in face-to-face with internet content and follow up) may be more sustainable for homeless youth whose lives are so transient. Because these youth are active consumers of the internet, it is an ideal venue that could promote continuing contact with participants and reinforce the sustenance of these new behaviors.