Evaluation of SFAF's Magnet Program
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: In this proposal, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), seek to evaluate Magnet, a clinic and community center located in the Castro district of San Francisco, the City’s primary gay and lesbian neighborhood. Recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that almost half of all Americans living with HIV are men who have sex with other men (commonly abbreviated as MSM in the scientific literature). Here in California, MSM make up nearly three-quarters of all HIV/AIDS cases and, in San Francisco, are 85% of all cases. Given these numbers, it is critical that we address the needs of MSM if we hope to bring down the number of new infections. Research studies continue to show that substantial numbers of MSM engage in behaviors that can transmit HIV, such as having anal sex while not using a condom. In some cases, men may not be using condoms because they are serosorting (choosing sexual partners that they believe have the same HIV status as them). Although such strategies may help prevent HIV, the number of new infections each year is still so high that over 25% of MSM in San Francisco are HIV-positive. Thus, much work remains to be done. Magnet offers sexual health services out of a storefront facility located in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro district. But it is also more than just a clinic. The clinic hopes to empower men with the information, skills, and confidence they need to make informed decisions during sex. The founders of Magnet placed it in an inviting location in the heart of the Castro in the hopes that would encourage men to think and talk about sexual health. Magnet has become very popular. There were 4600 clients at the clinic in 2007. But we don’t know to what degree these men use Magnet and its services as resources to help them make decisions about safer sex and other HIV prevention practices. The evaluation proposed here seeks to study this issue. We plan to conduct three studies. For the first study, we will conduct interviews with 40 men who live, work, or hang out regularly in the Castro. In these interviews, we will try to understand how men use health information in the decisions they make about their sex practices. In the second study, we will conduct a survey with 600 men leaving appointments at Magnet. The survey will ask men about their reasons for using Magnet services that day. We particularly want to know if men come to Magnet as part of their efforts to avoid getting infected or infecting others with HIV. Finally, for the third study, we will conduct another survey of 400 men who live, work, and/or hang out regularly in the Castro. It will focus on how often they have been to Magnet, have had friends who have been to it, or otherwise have knowledge about the services the clinic offers. We will look at whether contact with Magnet is associated with the use of sexual health information to guide HIV prevention practices during sex.