Examining the digital connections: comprehensive HIV knowledge, awareness of antiretroviral therapy, and digital media use among adolescents and young adults in a middle-income country.

Abstract

There remains a gap in identifying factors that influence HIV knowledge among younger people in middle-income countries who report higher Internet access and social media use. In this study, the association of use of two types of digital media - Internet media and social media - for information about sex with comprehensive HIV knowledge and ART awareness among youth aged 15-24 was measured. Data from the 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study in the Philippines (n = 10,949) were used, and the adolescent health literacy framework was adopted to obtain parsimonious weighted logistic regression models. Digital media use for information about sex yielded varied results concerning improved comprehensive HIV knowledge and ART awareness. Social media use was only associated with improved comprehensive HIV knowledge (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.265, p = .002), but not ART awareness (aOR = 1.244, p = .063). Meanwhile, the use of Internet media was not associated with improved comprehensive HIV knowledge (aOR = 1.105, p = .335) nor ART awareness (aOR = 1.025, p = .832). Recommendations on how public health initiatives could maximize the potential of digital media to enhance HIV awareness were discussed.