Online and Offline Sexual Health-Seeking Patterns of HIV-Negative Men Who Have Sex with Men

To inform health information targeting, we used cross-sectional data from 2577 HIV-negative MSM to identify groups of men who access similar sources. Offline, more men reported talking to a physician about HIV than about having sex with men; fewer than half attended a safer sex workshop. Online, men sought information primarily through Internet search engines, GLBT websites, or health websites. A latent class analysis identified four groups of health seekers: minimal health seekers, those who accessed online sources only, those who sought information mostly from health professionals, and those who sought information from diverse sources. Minimal health seekers, 9% of the sample, were the group of greatest concern. They engaged in unprotected anal sex with multiple partners but infrequently testing for HIV or sought sexual health information. By encouraging health seeking from diverse sources, opportunities exist to increase men’s knowledge of HIV/STI prevention and, when necessary, access to medical care.