FaceSpace

Using social networking to promote safer sex to higher risk groups.

Project overview

This research project aims to use social networking sites to deliver health promotion messages about sexual health and safer sex to young people and men who have sex with men (MSM).

Young people and MSM are known to be at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections Social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube have become very popular in recent years and offer a new environment in which individuals interact. The aim of this project is to examine whether these environments can also be used to deliver health promotion messages.

This project is a collaboration between the Centre for Population Health, the Burnet Institute, the Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, the Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Mens Health Centre, and X:MACHINE Productions.

Project team

Shanton Chang

Mark Stoove (Burnet Institute)

Margaret Hellard (Burnet Institute)

Judy Gould (Burnet Institute)

Alisa Pedrana (Burnet Institute)

Project time frame

2010–2012

Publications

  • Pedrana A, Hellard ME, Gold J, Ata N, Chang SL, Howard S, Asselin J, Ilic O, Batrouney C & Stoove M. (2013) Queer as F**k: Reaching and Engaging Gay Men in Sexual Health Promotion through Social Networking Sites. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 15 (2)
  • Nguyen P, Gold J, Pedrana A, Chang SL, Howard S, Ilic O, Hellard ME & Stoove M. (2013) Sexual Health Promotion on Social Networking Sites: A Process Evaluation of the FaceSpace Project. Journal of Adolescent Health.
  • Gold J, Pedrana A, Stoove M, Chang S, Howard S, Asselin J, Ilic O, Batrouney C & Hellard ME. (2012). Developing Health Promotion Interventions on Social Networking Sites. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 14 (1) : e30.
  • Gold, J., Pedrana, A., Sacks-Davis, R., Hellard, M., Chang, S., Howard, S., Keogh, L., Hocking, J. and Stoove, M. (2011). A Systematic Examination of the Use of Online Social Networking Sites for Sexual Health Promotion. Journal BMC Public Health.
  • Pedrana, A., Asselin, J., Gold, J., Stoove, M., Batrouney, C., Crang, O., Chang, S., Howard, S., Hellard, M. (2011). Yes we can! Using social networking sites for health promotion targeting gay and bisexual men. 20th National Australian Health Promotion Association Conference, Cairns.
  • Pedrana A., Asselin J., Gold J., Hellard M., Nguyen P., Batrouney C., Crang O., Chang S., Howard S., Stoove M. (2011). Signed, Sealed, Delivered! The FaceSpace Project: Developing, Delivering and Evaluating Sexual Health Interventions on Online Social Networking Sites. Sex::Tech 2011, San Francisco, USA.
  • Asselin, J., Pedrana, A., Gold, J., Ata, N., Hellard, M., Batrouney, C., Crang, O., Chang, S., Howard, S., Stoove, M. (2011). Queer as: Delivering sexual health promotion to gay and bisexual men on Social Networking Sites. Sex::Tech 2011, San Francisco, April 2011.
  • Nguyen, P., Gold, J., Pedrana, A., Stoove, M., Ata, N., Crang, O., Chang, S., Benda, P., Howard, S., and Hellard, M. (2010). Going where the people are: reaching young people and MSM for sexual health promotion via social networking sites. 2010 Australasian Sexual Health Conference.
  • Ata, N., et al. (2010). Iterative evaluation methods for health promotion interventions on social networking sites. 2010 Australasian Sexual Health Conference (poster).
  • Pedrana, A., Gold, J., Hellard, M., Nguyen, P., Chang, S., Benda, P., Crang, O., Howard, S., Stoove, M. (2010). Adapting Evaluation Methods for Health Promotion Interventions on Social Networking Sites. Presented at Australian Public Health Conference. Adelaide, Sept 2010.
  • Gold, J., Pedrana, A., Stoove, M., Atal, N., Chang, S., Benda, P., Crang, O., Keogh, L., Hocking, J., Howard, S., and Hellard, M. (2010). The FaceSpace Project: Delivering Sexual Health Promotion on Social Networking Sites. Presented at Australian Public Health Conference. Adelaide, Sept 2010.
  • Gold, J., Pedrana, A., Stoove, M., Howard, S., Chang, S., Benda, P., Crang, O., Keogh, L., Hocking, J., and Hellard, M. (2010). Using Social Networking Sites for Sexual Health Promotion to Young People: The FaceSpace Project. 19th National Australian Health Promotion Conference. Melbourne, May 2010.
  • Gold, J., Pedrana, A., Stoove, M., Howard, S., Chang, S., Benda, P., Crang, O., Keogh, L., Hocking, J., and Hellard, M. (2010). Presented at 20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, 11-15 July 2010, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Nguyen, L., Shanks, G., Vetere, F. and Howard, S. (2009). The Information Needs of Family Carers in Collaborative Healthcare. Presented at HCS-Net Social Technology Applications for Health and Medicine.

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