Time Series Foundation Models - current state and future directions
Focus groups promote healthy sexuality among gay, bisexual adolescent males
1. 11th International AIDS Impact Conference
October 2, 2013, 9:00-11:00am
Session: Late Breaker
Exploring focus groups as a healthy sexuality
intervention among gay, bisexual, and queer
adolescent males
Tonya Prescott BA1
Michele Ybarra MPH PhD1
L. Zachary DuBois PhD2
Jeffrey Parsons PhD3
Sheana Bull PhD4
Brian Mustanski PhD 2
1 Center for Innovative Public Health Research, San
Clemente, California, USA
2 Impact Program, Northwestern University,
Chicago, Illinois, USA
3 Hunter College, City University of New York, New
York, NY, USA
4 Colorado School of Public Health, University of
Colorado Denver, Aurora, CA, USA
2. Acknowledgements
The project described is supported by Award Number R01
MH096660 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and
does not necessarily represent the official views of the
National Institute of Mental Health.
We would like to thank the entire G2G Team from Center
for Innovative Public Health Research and Northwestern
University. We‟d also like to acknowledge the contributions
of our consultants, Drs. Sheana Bull and Jeffrey Parsons.
Finally, we thank the participants for their time and
willingness to participate in this study.
3. Backdrop to contextualize
discussion
LGB youth face stigma and discrimination, and are often
marginalized by society. This understandably leads to
feelings of isolation for some youth (D'Augelli 2002; Hershberger
and D'Augelli 1995)
Social support can play an important protective role in the
lives of LGBT youth, reducing the effects of risk factors they
may encounter (Anhalt & Morris, 1998)
Studies suggest that young LGBT people are more satisfied
with social support from other LGBT people (Mercier &
Berger, 1989; Munoz-Plaza, Quinn, & Rounds, 2002)
Online spaces may offer LGBT youth expanded opportunities
for this type of social support (GLSEN, 2013)
4. Online focus groups
Aim: Guide program content and logistic decisions
for text-messaging healthy sexuality program for
GBQ adolescent males
Four focus groups (n=75)
November 2012 and January 2013
3 consecutive days
Stratified by sexual experience (anal/vaginal sex ever)
Asynchronous, bulletin-board style format
Password-protected website
Participants created anonymous username
Daily moderation and probing
6. Focus groups #1 and 2: Social
Support
When we asked youth what kinds of incentives we
needed to provide participants to stay engaged, they
said:
“For me just knowing that there are guys
like me out there that are dealing with
the same stuff and being reminded to stay
safe and have fun with life is enough for
me.”
“I actually enjoyed this project because I
got to get some idea of people that are
just like me.”
7. Focus groups #1 and 2: Increased
IMB
“It was an amazing experience. It was a pleasure
to be part of it, and it has taught me so much
more than I thought it would.”
“I think that participating in this project was
amazing on its own, and “knowledge is power
and a reward on its own.”
These types of comments suggested to us that the focus
group experience provided: a) important social support and
b) information, motivation, and behavioral skills that may
have served as a type of „intervention‟ for participants
8. Focus groups #3 and 4
To better understand the influence that the focus
groups might be having on behavior and support
indicators, in FGs 3-4, we added the following
questions:
“In what ways do you think your views have changed (if
at all) as a result of taking part in this Discussion?”
“In what ways do you think your behavior might change
(if at all) as a result of taking part in this Discussion?”
“In what ways (if at all) has this Discussion changed
your views or thoughts about having/not having sex?”
“How has the Discussion changed your views or
thoughts (if at all) about using/not using condoms?”
9. Focus groups #3 and 4: Social
connectivity and norming delaying
sex
Sexually inexperienced:
“This discussion has helped me realize just how
many guys out there want to wait for the right
guy for sex (and relationships in general). It gives
me hope that in college, I won't have a problem
finding an amazing guy! :)”
“I'll advocate safe sex and waiting for the right
person around my friends more--instead of just
being neutral on the topic”
“This group has helped me see that I'm not alone
here.”
10. Focus groups #3 and 4: Norming
safe sex behavior
Sexually experienced:
“learned that although a lot of my peers are out
there having unprotected sex, there are a huge
group of others that are just as cautious as I am.
It sort of helped reinforce my safe sex practices.
Which of course was nice :)”
“I feel more open to discussing my sexuality”
“The discussion has helped me see what I can do
for myself to make it easier to use condoms all
the time and why I should.”
11. Endorsement of changed/ reinforced
beliefs
50%
39%
28%
44%
55%
65%
75%
65%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Views have
changed
Behavior might
change
Changed your
views or thoughts
about having/not
having sex
Changed your
views or thoughts
about using/not
using condoms
Sexually inexperienced (n=17)
Sexually experienced (n=20)
12. Conclusions
Focus groups that use a national sampling frame
result in a sample of youth from both urban and
rural settings. The latter may have fewer in-
person supports and resources.
Connecting with other GBQ guys over the 3-day
period seemed to have a positive effect on teen
participants, both in terms of support, and
aspects of HIV preventive behavior
Further investigation to quantify the influence of
focus groups on healthy sexual behaviors
appears warranted
13. Thank you!
For more information, please contact:
Tonya Prescott
tonya@innovativepublichealth.org
* Thank you for your interest in this presentation. Please note that
analyses included herein are preliminary. More recent, finalized analyses
may be available by contacting CiPHR for further information.
Notes de l'éditeur
Talking about recent focus groups experiences with GBQ adolescent males. These focus groups were conducted as part of informative development work to inform a HIV prevention/ healthy sexuality text-messaging program. In conducting these groups themes emerged their may be a positive influence for participants from participation itself – and we’ll explore that today.
Before I begin I want to acknowledge our funding from the NIMH and our partners at Northwestern University, as well as our consultants.
Qualitative data to inform development of G2G
This sample includes not only GBQ adolescent males … but also those of minority race who may feel discriminated because of their race… and those in rural settings who may feel particularly isolated…. So the diversity of the national sample is noteworthy. Representation of minority race… 45% were of non-white race (e.g., Asian, Black, Mixed, Native American, or Other)29% were from a rural community … with fewer resources
Now let’s talk about why we thought the focus groups might be having an impact. At the end of FG1, we asked participants generally what we thought we’d need to do to keep guys in 6-month program. We expected incentives, gifts, online store… And instead we got feedback, but instead just being part of the program (or in their case the focus group) was reward enough. And here we have a couple examples of social support:
And here are two additional quotes that illustrate how guys thought they learned information from being part of the focus group discussion… Fostered by the focus group script: motivations to have sex, condom use, etc. A number of participants in FG1 remarked on how beneficial they found being in the FG, as such we decided to formally ask them about this in the second round of focus groups. Given the theme emerged in FG1, we decided to follow up formally in FG2 to get a better sense of the
Based on what we were hearing in the first two focus groups, we added particular questions in focus groups 3 and 4 to get at this idea that the focus group themselves may have an impact. … As a result of that, in the second round of FGs we asked some explicit questions about this for all participants. Items were included as part of the focus group script.
Here’s some examples of responses from the sesxually inexperienced group that suggest participants experienced increased social connectivity and reinforced for them that their decision to not have sex was the right decision for them and that there are other guys like them making the same decision
And this this slide provides some examples from the sexually experienced group talked about hwo the discussion to them reinforced and normed safe sexual behaviors for example using ocndoms… talking about sex..
Based on FG 3+4 responses only (since that’s when we formally asked items related to focus group influence), here we quantify the percent of guys who endorsed changed/ reinforced beliefs as a result of their participation. Interestingly, influence seems to be more notable for sexually active guys.
More cognizant of potential influence on constructs even during formative stages (talking to young people, focus groups) of intervention development… not just survey (contempletative), but the focus group (and interaction (bringing together like others who are making decisions similar to them)… we don’t necessarily consider the potential influence of those formative activities… And compared to resources expended for more intensive interventions, what if we could potentially move the needle with something as low cost as an online focus group. Perhaps warrants further exploration of focus groups to promote behavior change – at least for this population of GBQ adolescent males.