Exploring the Use of Smartphone Geofencing to Study Characteristics of Alcohol Drinking Locations in High-Risk Gay and Bisexual Men.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res
; 43(5): 900-906, 2019 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30802318
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Geofencing offers new opportunities to study how specific environments affect alcohol use and related behavior. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using geofencing to examine social/environmental factors related to alcohol use and sexual perceptions in a sample of gay and bisexual men (GBM) who engage in heavy drinking and high-risk sex.METHODS:
HIV-negative GBM (N = 76) completed ecological momentary assessments for 30 days via a smartphone application and were prompted to complete surveys when inside general geofences set around popular bars and clubs. A subset (N = 45) were also asked to complete surveys when inside personal geofences, which participants set themselves by identifying locations where they typically drank heavily.RESULTS:
Approximately 49% of participants received a survey prompted by a general geofence. Among those who identified at least 1 personal drinking location, 62.2% received a personal geofence-prompted survey. Of the 175 total location-based surveys, 40.2% occurred when participants were not at the location that was intended to be captured. Participants reported being most able to openly express themselves at gay bars/clubs and private residences, but these locations were also more "sexualized" than general bars/clubs. Participants did not drink more heavily at gay bars/clubs, but did when in locations with more intoxicated patrons or guests.CONCLUSIONS:
Geofencing has the potential to improve the validity of studies exploring environmental influences on drinking. However, the high number of "false-positive" prompts we observed suggests that geofences should be used carefully until improvements in precision are more widely available.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Alcohol Drinking
/
Bisexuality
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Homosexuality, Male
/
Unsafe Sex
/
Smartphone
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
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Adult
/
Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Language:
En
Year:
2019
Type:
Article