HIV Big Deal is an ongoing, multi-faceted, internet-based effort to motivate gay men to have safe sex and to get tested for HIV. At the core of the project is a series of 10-minute video dramas that tell the story of a young gay man in New York City. In style, the videos are realistic and riveting, but they are also research-based educational tools, designed to effectively challenge misconceptions and prompt critical thinking.
HIV Big Deal has released two episodes in the series and plans to release more later this year. The first episode, "The Morning After," was evaluated for its effectiveness in changing behavior using baseline and follow-up surveys with a group of 500 men. The results showed that the men were three times more likely to disclose their HIV status and about 1.5 times more likely to get tested for HIV three months after seeing the video.
"We've found that online video can be a powerful new intervention tool in the fight against HIV," said Dr. Mary Ann Chiasson, co-director of HIV Big Deal. "We are seeing that it can be as effective as one-on-one outreach, but with the Internet's scope, it has the potential to reach and influence thousands of men."
Dr. Chiasson and Co-director Dr. Francine Shuchat Shaw bring expertise from the very different fields of epidemiology and learning theory to their collaboration. Dr. Chiasson is an epidemiologist and Vice President for Research and Evaluation with Public Health Solutions, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in New York City. Dr. Shaw, a faculty member of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, is a veteran researcher in learning theory and educational media.
HIV Big Deal was conceived and developed in response to the continuing HIV epidemic among gay men.
While both the incidence of AIDS and the number of deaths due to AIDS declined dramatically following the introduction of combination anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in 1996, the incidence of HIV infection has not declined. In fact, it has grown, especially among gay men. An estimated 40,000 new HIV infections have been diagnosed annually in the United States since the early 1990s, and gay men have accounted for the majority of these. This steady rate of infection combined with declining mortality due to AIDS has resulted in a growing number of people living with HIV, most of them gay men.
In New York City, gay men account for the largest number of HIV diagnoses (37.4%), and the rate of HIV infection has remained constant for gay men even as it has declined for injecting drug users.
Early in the HIV-AIDS epidemic, community-wide safe sex messages delivered through print ads and media campaigns were effective in lowering high-risk behaviors. Prevention programs have been developed since then, but surprisingly, only a small proportion targeted gay men, and those targeted white men only. The Internet, with its vast geographic and demographic reach, is the ideal medium for a new generation of prevention efforts. Among the behavioral factors contributing to HIV infection in gay men is easy access to sex partners through Internet hook-up sites. These and other gay-oriented websites are the focus of HIV Big Deal's online advertising efforts.
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