Correlates of main reasons for not HIV testing, HIV testing intentions, and potential use of an over-the-counter rapid HIV test (OTCRT) among men who have sex with men who have never tested for HIV (NTMSM) are unknown. We evaluated these correlates among 946 NTMSM from 6 US cities who participated in an internet-based survey in 2007. Main reasons for not testing were low perceived risk (32.2%), structural barriers (25.1%), and fear of testing positive (18.1%). Low perceived risk was associated with having fewer unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) partners and less frequent use of the internet for HIV information; structural barriers were associated with younger age and more UAI partners; fear of testing positive was associated with black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, more UAI partners, and more frequent use of the internet for HIV information. Strong testing intentions were held by 25.9% of all NTMSM and 14.8% of those who did not test because of low perceived risk. Among NTMSM who were somewhat unlikely, somewhat likely, and very likely to test for HIV, 47.4%, 76.5%, and 85.6% would likely use an OTCRT if it was available, respectively. Among NTMSM who use the internet, main reasons for not testing for HIV vary considerably by age, race/ethnicity, UAI, and use of the internet for HIV information. To facilitate HIV testing of NTMSM, programs should expand interventions and services tailored to address this variation. If approved, OTCRT might be used by many NTMSM who might not otherwise test for HIV.

Health Education: Theoretical Concepts, Effective Strategies and Core Competencies is a document published by the World Health Organization. This document provides overviews of core health education theory, emphasizes evidence-based health education, and highlights core competencies to facilitate a common understanding of the health education profession. Although the document results from a situation analysis of assessing health education capacity in Member States of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, it provides universal foundation elements important to all professionals in health education and related fields in any part of the world. In addition, it defines the role and responsibilities, sets the standards of health education, as well as emphasizes its critical contributions in health promotion. Health promotion practitioners can read quick updates and an overview on key roles, skills, and useful tools to be effective health educators.

Purpose: This review examines Internet interventions aiming to change health behaviors in the general population. Methods: Internet health interventions in the USA published between January 2005 and December 2013 were identified through Medline and CINAHL. Keywords used were (Internet or e-health or social media or web) paired with (intervention or program*). A total of 38 articles met all criteria and were reviewed. Results: Studies were analyzed by targeted health behavior interventions: tobacco (5), alcohol (4), weight loss (7), physical activity (PA) (7), nutrition (2), PA and nutrition combined (5), HIV or sexual health (4), and chronic diseases (4). Interventions ranged from one session to 24 weeks (average 6–12 weeks). Common strategies used, including web-based information, tailored feedback, weekly e-mails, goal setting, and self-assessment. Social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical models were the most commonly used frameworks. Recruitment strategies were typically media based varied by settings and populations. Except for the tobacco interventions, the majority studies yielded significant outcomes. Conclusion: This review provides updates and synthesized knowledge on the design and consistent effectiveness of Internet interventions across health behaviors. Results have implications for public health and healthcare professionals, as they play a key role in developing and delivering health promotion interventions as well as in assisting the communities and clients serviced obtaining evidence-based health information.

Health Literacy Online: A Guide to Writing and Designing Easy-to-Use Health Web Sites is a practical and well-written resource for public health and health communication professionals and web designers. This guide builds on the principles of web usability and adds to existing best practices by providing research-based strategies for writing and designing health websites especially for users with limited literacy and health literacy skills. This guide synthesizes years of lessons learned from Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s original research with hundreds of web users, experience with revising the healthfinder.gov, as well as strategies supported by the Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines (Usability.gov). In the United States, roughly one third of adults have limited literacy skills, yet far more (as many as 90%) have limited health literacy skills, meaning they have trouble understanding complex health information. This how-to guide is timely and developed with the aim of creating easy-to-use health websites to reach as many web users as possible, especially those with limited literacy and health literacy skills.