Changing Attitudes Towards Condoms Among Australian Gay and Bisexual Men in the PrEP Era: An Analysis of Repeated National Online Surveys 2011-2019.

Condoms have been the primary form of HIV prevention for gay and bisexual men (GBM) for most of the HIV epidemic. The introduction of biomedical HIV prevention may have changed attitudes towards condoms. Data from repeated national online surveys of GBM in Australia were used to examine how attitudes towards condoms and confidence discussing condoms with partners changed in the period 2011-2019.

HCV knowledge, disclosure practices, and risk perceptions among gay and bisexual men who do and do not engage in group sex while using drugs.

Research suggests that hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission is more likely among gay and bisexual men (GBM) who engage in sexually adventurous practices, including group sex while using drugs. The current study explored drug use, sexual practices, HCV knowledge, HCV disclosure, and beliefs about HCV transmission among GBM ( = 193) reporting group sex after/while using drugs compared to those who did not. Survey findings indicate that men who participated in group sex while using drugs were more likely to have engaged in other sexually adventurous practices, ever injected drugs, have greater knowledge of HCV, and to be living with HIV.

Drugs as technologies of the self: Enhancement and transformation in LGBTQ cultures.

The consumption of drugs has long been a mainstay of urban queer cultures and it is well-recognised that complex connections exist between sexual minoritisation and desires to chemically alter bodily experience. Yet despite evidence that rates of consumption are higher among LGBTQ populations, research exploring the gendered and sexual dynamics of these forms of consumption is limited and tends to frame such consumption as a response to stigma, marginalisation and discrimination. Against this dominant explanatory frame, this article explores the diverse experiences of LGBTQ consumers, and in so doing highlights both the pleasures and benefits of consumption, as well as potential risks and harms.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to hepatitis C among gay and bisexual men in the era of direct-acting antivirals: implications for treatment and prevention.

Increases in hepatitis C (HCV) infections among gay and bisexual men have recently been reported in a number of countries, with sexual transmission being the primary route of infection. Given that in countries such as Australia most gay and bisexual men living with HIV are already engaged in clinical care - as are an increasing number of HIV-negative men - there is potential for reducing onward HCV transmission through proactive testing and treatment. This study explored knowledge, attitudes and practices related to HCV among 194 gay and bisexual men collected through an online survey in Australia.

Association of HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis With Incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Individuals at High Risk of HIV Infection.

Importance: Emerging evidence suggests that risk of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) increases among gay and bisexual men following initiation of HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Objective: To describe STI incidence and behavioral risk factors among a cohort of predominantly gay and bisexual men who use PrEP, and to explore changes in STI incidence following PrEP commencement.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Expanded (PrEPX) Study, a multisite, open-label intervention study, was nested within the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS) clinic network.

Problematising LGBTIQ drug use, governing sexuality and gender: A critical analysis of LGBTIQ health policy in Australia.

It is well-established that a high prevalence of substance use is found in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) populations; a finding that researchers attribute to the stigmatised status of non-normative sexual and gender expression, and the role of illicit drug use in the collective production of socio-sexual pleasures, expressivity and disclosure in LGBTIQ communities. Despite the connections between sexual experimentation and substance use, LGBTIQ consumption practices have rarely received the attention they deserve within the alcohol and other drug (AOD) field. In this paper, we draw on concepts from post-structuralist policy analysis to analyse how AOD consumption among sexual and gender minorities is constituted in the policies of three Australian LGBTIQ health organisations.

Individual Versus Community-Level Risk Compensation Following Preexposure Prophylaxis of HIV.

We analyzed the concept of risk compensation and how it has been applied in HIV prevention, paying particular attention to the strategy of HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In risk compensation, reduced perceptions of risk after the introduction of a preventative intervention lead to more frequent risk-taking behavior. Such a change may undermine the intervention's protective benefits.

Shouting and providing: Forms of exchange in the drinking accounts of young Australians.

Introduction And Aims: Australian health promotion campaigns encourage people to manage their alcohol consumption by avoiding involvement in a form of round drinking known as 'shouting'. We consider this individualist advice in light of our analysis of the social relations established by young people through collective drinking, in which we conceptualise friends, family and work colleagues as participants in complex networks of exchange.

Design And Methods: Data were gathered during in-depth, semistructured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a socioeconomically disadvantaged outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

The need to know: HIV status disclosure expectations and practices among non-HIV-positive gay and bisexual men in Australia.

Although there is evidence of increasing overall rates of HIV status disclosure among gay and bisexual men, little is known about men's disclosure expectations and practices. In this study, we investigate the importance non-HIV-positive men in Australia vest in knowing the HIV status of their sexual partners, and the extent to which they restrict sex to partners of the same HIV status, and their HIV disclosure expectations. Data were collected through a national, online self-report survey.

Hepatitis C risk factors, attitudes and knowledge among HIV-positive, HIV-negative and HIV-untested gay and bisexual men in Australia.

Unlabelled: Background There are increasing reports of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM). Still unclear is the level of HCV knowledge and the risk factors specific to HCV transmission among this population. This study compared HCV knowledge and risk practices among HIV-positive, HIV-negative and HIV-untested gay and bisexual men in Australia.

Processing, selecting and ritualizing: ambivalent relationships to semen.

Two articles on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and reproduction have recently been published in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, both describing developments that increase reproductive options for HIV-positive men. A study of a semen-processing technique used at a South African hospital found that two out of 103 processed samples tested positive for HIV DNA and none for RNA, indicating 98.1% and 100% effectiveness, respectively.

Interest in using rectal microbicides among Australian gay men is associated with perceived HIV vulnerability and engaging in condomless sex with casual partners: results from a national survey.

Objective: We assessed interest in using rectal microbicides to prevent HIV transmission among gay men in Australia.

Methods: A national online survey was conducted in 2013. Interest in using rectal microbicides was measured on a seven-item scale (α=0.

Australian gay and bisexual men's attitudes to HIV treatment as prevention in repeated, national surveys, 2011-2013.

Objective: Assess the acceptability of HIV treatment as prevention and early antiretroviral treatment among gay and bisexual men in Australia and any changes in attitudes over time.

Methods: National, online, cross-sectional surveys of gay and bisexual men were repeated in 2011 and 2013. Changes in attitudes to HIV treatment over time were assessed with multivariate analysis of variance.