Grant: Catalyst Grant: HIV/AIDS CBR Program - General Stream

The introduction of new at-home, virtually accessible technologies to prevent and test for HIV/STBBI has left us with a sizeable gap in knowledge around digital health service utilization among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) and the platforms themselves. This knowledge is crucial to informing sexual health policy development as we return to face-to-face health service delivery. What we do know, however, tends to be based on studies in larger urban centres such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. In mid-size cities in the Prairies, such as Winnipeg, Manitoba, digital health care access among gbMSM is likely shaped by a unique set of barriers and facilitators. Furthermore, while on-line availability of HIV/STBBI prevention and testing technologies might be more acceptable to some members of the gbMSM community, we must ask-might this new form of health service availability also deepen inequalities in health care by reinforcing the Digital Divide? With this question in mind, we propose a study that employs a community-based program science (CBPS) approach that will capture the insights and concerns of sexual health leaders in Manitoba. More specifically, our study aims to: 1) map out the private-public regulatory systems that govern digital sexual health services access to gbMSM communities in Winnipeg and surrounding towns; 2) explore how on-line gbMSM communities relate virtual, at-home use of new technologies to understandings of sexual health, including community care, support, and notions of sexual wellbeing beyond infectious diseases; and 3) examine the perspectives of health care providers in sexual health clinics towards new digital health technologies. Pursuing a CBPS approach will foster health policy development that integrates and prioritizes the experiences of the gbMSM community and the organizations who serve them.