Improving Access to Care Through Youth-Focused Virtual Sexual Health Navigation

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sexual Health
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Adolescents and young adults, particularly gender and sexually diverse individuals in Baltimore City, face disproportionately high rates of HIV.
• The Virtual and Online Integrated Sexual Health Services for Youth (VOIS) program was developed to address this disparity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual health navigation program in linking at-risk youth to HIV testing, prevention, and sexual healthcare services.
• To identify demographic and geographic factors associated with engagement in health navigation services.

Main Methods:

• The study included 238 youth aged 13-26 from the Baltimore area who utilized the VOIS program.
• Data on demographics, referral sources, and navigational service linkages were collected in a HIPAA-secure database.
• Focused populations included residents of high HIV prevalence zip codes identifying as sexual and gender diverse youth.

Main Results:

• Receiving navigational services was significantly linked to identifying as sexually diverse.
• Multivariate regression showed that recording sexual orientation, identifying as a cisgender male, and living in a high HIV prevalence zip code were associated with the number of navigational services accessed.

Conclusions:

• Virtual health navigation demonstrates potential for engaging priority populations, including sexual and gender diverse youth.
• Tailoring linkage and identification strategies can enhance future outreach to vulnerable communities and improve sexual healthcare access.