The benefits and challenges of using Grindr as an outreach platform for gbMSM.

This presentation draws from a small-scale exploratory study regarding the utility of Grindr as a sexual health and wellbeing outreach tool, particularly for harder-to-reach cohorts of gbMSM. The challenges of using Grindr, a principally commercial platform, are discussed before moving onto a discussion of the opportunities Grindr provides in reaching cohorts of gbMSM who tend to have lower levels of sexual health knowledge and who are also less likely to present in a clinical setting or discuss their sexual health with a healthcare provider. To illuminate the discussion, case studies are presented from a sample of outreach interactions with gbMSM who are rural-based and/or not ‘out’ regarding their sexual orientation. It is then argued that Grindr has a vital role within a broader online-offline ecology of sexual health and wellbeing promotion that includes a national free home testing service (SH24), free home HIV testing, a national PrEP Programme and various sexual health clinics.