Young men's preferences for sexually transmitted disease and reproductive health services in San Francisco, California.

We explored STD (sexually transmitted disease) service preferences among 108 African-American adolescent males recruited from a high-morbidity neighborhood. Participants largely preferred to seek care at traditional STD testing venues (86.5%) rather than nontraditional venues. Additionally, most males preferred receiving STD test results from a clinician (61.1%) rather than online (11.1%) or through email or text message (12.0%). These results highlight the need for continued strengthening of traditional public health clinics to ensure capacity to meet young men's health needs and to improve outreach and access to traditional STD services for young men.

Hopelessness and sexual risk behavior among adolescent African American males in a low-income urban community.

African American youth bear a disproportionate burden of sexually transmitted infections. Environmental stressors may lead to increased hopelessness, which in turn can lead to increases in risk-taking behavior. This study explored the hypothesis that as hopelessness increases, sexual risk behavior will increase-specifically, inconsistent condom use and increased number of sex partners. In 2010, 108 African American men 15 to 24 years old responded to sexual behavior questions and Beck's Hopelessness Scale. The associations between hopelessness and sexual risk behaviors were evaluated with multivariate logistic regression. Increased hopelessness was associated with increased inconsistent condom use with non-main sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval = 1.3-4.0). There was no association between hopelessness and condom use with a main partner or sex with more than one partner in the past 3 months. These findings imply that hopelessness may encourage sexual risk-taking behavior in young males.

Dogs Are Talking: San Francisco's social marketing campaign to increase syphilis screening.

To promote regular syphilis testing among men who have sex with men in San Francisco, a social marketing campaign, Dogs Are Talking, was created. An evaluation of the campaign found no difference in syphilis testing among men who recalled the campaign and those that did not. A significant difference was seen among HIV-infected men.

Stay in school? Results of a sexually transmitted diseases screening program in San Francisco high schools-2007.

OBJECTIVES: To provide chlamydia and gonorrhea screening and treatment to adolescents presumed to be at high risk, school screening was conducted among the 11th and 12th graders in San Francisco. STUDY DESIGN: Two schools in neighborhoods with high chlamydia and gonorrhea rates and student populations > or = 15% black were chosen. Students viewed a 10-minute presentation and received test kits. Students decided in a private bathroom stall whether to test. All students were encouraged to return a test kit (whether they returned a urine specimen). RESULTS: Of 967 eligible students, 853 (88%) were in attendance. Of these, 21 (2%) declined to participate and 537 (63%) returned a specimen for testing. Students who tested were predominately heterosexual (93%) and nonwhite (99%). No students tested positive for gonorrhea; 7 (1.3%) tested positive for chlamydia. Positivity was 2.2% (5 of 227) for female students and 0.6% (2 of 310) for male students. Positivity by race/ethnicity was 5.4% (4 of 74) for blacks, 2.0% (2 of 98) for Hispanics, 0.3% (1 of 342) for Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 0% (0 of 4) for whites. The highest positivity was among black female students: 9.3% (4 of 43). Not including planning and follow-up, each case identified used 63 staff hours. CONCLUSIONS: Despite high participation among students attending school in high morbidity neighborhoods, few infections were identified. This is likely because students have low rates of sexual activity and do not necessarily attend neighborhood schools. Screening used substantial resources. Sexually transmitted disease control programs considering school screening should consider local epidemiology and whether schools have substantial proportions of students likely at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

SEXINFO: a sexual health text messaging service for San Francisco youth.

In response to rising gonorrhea rates among African American youth in San Francisco, Calif, Internet Sexuality Information Services, Inc, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, developed SEXINFO, a sexual health text messaging service. SEXINFO is an information and referral service that can be accessed by texting "SEXINFO" to a 5-digit number from any wireless phone. A consortium of community organizations, religious groups, and health agencies assisted with identifying culturally appropriate local referral services. We conducted focus group sessions among youth aged 15 to 19 years to discuss the viability of the service. Usage of the service has been greater than expected, and an initial evaluation to assess the impact of SEXINFO on increasing access to sexual health services among at-risk adolescents has had promising results.

Our lives: an examination of sexual health issues using photovoice by non-gay identified African American men who have sex with men.

African American men who have sex with men and who do not identify as gay are at high risk for HIV infection. This paper presents the results of the photovoice component, a participatory action research method, of a two-tiered qualitative study design that explored the perceptions of non-gay identified African American men who have sex with men living or working in the San Francisco Bay Area regarding the social, cultural, community, and family influences associated with their HIV risk and their general sexual health. Major themes that emerged from the photographs and discussions fell into three main categories: (1) The importance of a black identity, (2) factors inhibiting HIV prevention, and (3) factors that maintain health or promote health. Through their photographs, the men in this study explored the challenges and difficulties associated with maintaining their sexual health, in addition to describing the health promoting factors that reinforce wise choices in their everyday lives.