Bulletin

Issue: October 2005

News

Using the internet for health promotion?

The internet is widely used by people seeking sex partners for a variety of sexual practices - some of which can be profoundly risky.

Dr Dowsett: What motivates risky
behaviour?

So, can the Net also be used for the promotion of good sexual health by highlighting the dangers of contracting HIV from risky sex?

La Trobe University, through its Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society (ARCSHS), is attempting to answer this question by contributing to a research project based at Columbia University, New York.

Dr Gary Dowsett, Associate Professor and Deputy Director of ARCSHS, has recently returned to Melbourne after a two year research posting at Columbia. He is one of a nine-member team on this new HIV prevention research project.

Funded by the American National Institutes of Health over three years, the researchers, led by Associate Professor Alex Carballo-Diéguez of New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, are examining six websites in New York used by men to find male sex partners.

'By examining the contents of sites and the types of people these sites attract, we aim to discover whether there would be benefits in placing health promotional material on them,' Dr Dowsett says.

'Should this be the case, we may be able to make a significant contribution to the continuing effort to combat HIV/AIDS.'

Applying 'cybercartography', the researchers 'map' sites, examine images and links, how people use them and their 'demeanour' - whether they are racy, crude, sexy, sleazy, sedate, fun, or responsible.

One of Dr Dowsett's tasks is to examine images and text to ascertain whether they use notions of masculinity as a resource or a value in the way users talk about themselves and what they seek sexually. Other researchers are concentrating on race/ethnicity and other factors to help build a 'profile' of each site and its attractions.

'So far we have found that the Internet is a very different communication tool. It is not just a better telephone, because its combination of images, text and communication modes, particularly in the form of chat rooms, allows people to explore their sexuality in new ways,' Dr Dowsett says.

'It also enables people to seek new sexual activities - sometimes called “sexual adventuring” - by being more direct and specific.'

Dr Dowsett says the first phase of research will reveal whether it is possible to use these sites for health promotion.

'The next step is to ascertain the best educational approaches to employ, because health promotion is not just another form of advertising. Individuals have differing motives in taking deliberate risks, and we must develop promotional materials that address these various motivations.'