Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 20, 2023
Date Accepted: Dec 20, 2023
Willingness to Use Digital Health Screening and Tracking Tools for Public Health in Sexual Minority Populations in a National Probability Sample: A Quantitative, Intersectional Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Little is known about sexual minority adults’ willingness to use digital health tools, such as pandemic-related tools for screening and tracking, outside of HIV prevention and intervention efforts for sexual minority men, specifically. Additionally, given the current cultural climate in the United States (US), heterosexual and sexual minority adults may differ in their willingness to use digital health tools, and there may be within-group differences among sexual minority adults.
Objective:
The present study compared sexual minority and heterosexual adults’ willingness to use COVID-19-related digital health tools for public health screening and tracking and tested whether sexual minority adults differed from each other by age group, gender, and race or ethnicity.
Methods:
Data were from a cross-sectional, national probability survey (n=2,047) implemented May 30–June 8, 2020 in the US during the height of the public health response to COVID-19. Using latent-variable modeling, heterosexual and sexual minority adults were tested for differences in their willingness to use digital health tools for public health screening and tracking. Among sexual minority adults, specifically, associations with age, gender, and race or ethnicity were assessed.
Results:
On average, sexual minority adults showed greater willingness to use digital health tools for screening and tracking than heterosexual adults (latent factor mean difference=0.46, 95% confidence interval: 0.15, 0.77). Among sexual minority adults, there were no differences by age group, gender, or race or ethnicity.
Conclusions:
In the US, sexual minority adults were more willing to use digital health tools for screening and tracking than heterosexual adults. Sexual minority adults did not differ from each other by age, gender, or race/ethnicity in terms of their willingness to use these digital health tools. Findings support the use of digital health tools, including mobile health applications with sexual minority adults, which could be important for other public health-related concerns, such as monkeypox.
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