HIV positive gay men in Australia are being recruited for a study that will look at the value of an online program that offers them emotional and practical support.

The program, Positive Outlook, has been developed by Monash University’s Human Research Ethics Committee in Melbourne. It is looking at how developing intimate online relationships with other people who are HIV positive can improve health.

Those who join the program, who don’t have to use their real names, must commit to 90 minutes a week online for seven weeks, when they will complete modules and activities and join-in discussions.

People who have tried out the program before have said they found it ‘very useful’ for correcting negative thought patterns and chatting online to people in the same position was valuable.

‘I can see that there is a me before the program and a me after the program… I carry the stories that I heard with me,’ said one participant.

‘I really just felt more secure and connected and it was great to know that people all across Australia are feeling the same things and going through the same things,’ said another.

Participants who are randomly assigned the control group will not join the Positive Outlook program but they will be given first priority to join the program if it is taken up as an affective support for HIV positive people.

For more information and to register, see here.