Marseille 2007
| Abstract #132 - Trends in agreements between regular partners among gay men in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane | ||||
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Session: 25.4: Couples (Parallel) on Monday @ 16.30-18.30 in PR Chaired by Jose Catalan, Giovanna Meystre-Agustone Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Garrett Prestage - University of New South Wales, Australia |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Fengyi Jin, Dr Iryna Zablotska, Dr John Imrie, Prof Susan Kippax, Prof Andrew Grulich, | ||||
| Aim: To report trends among gay men with negotiated agreements with their regular partners about condom use, both within and outside their relationships. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Repeated, cross-sectional surveys were conducted using anonymous, self-complete questionnaires with recruitment at gay community venues, clinics and large gay community events since 1996 in Sydney and 1998 in Melbourne and Brisbane. Men were asked to report their own and their regular partners HIV status, and the nature of any agreements they had negotiated about sex and condom use, both within their relationship and with other men. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Between 1998 and 2006, 53,901 Gay Community Periodic Survey questionnaires were completed in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. These included 28,152 where the respondents reported currently being in a relationship with a regular male partner. Most (about 90%) men with a regular partner had been tested for HIV, and about three quarters had tested HIV-negative. Between 1998 and 2006 there was an increase in the proportion of men in HIV-negative seroconcordant relationships. About three quarters of men with a regular partner had negotiated an agreement about sex within their relationship and about two thirds had such an agreement about sex outside their relationship. There was little change over time in the likelihood of having a negotiated agreement, but there were changes over time in the nature of these negotiated agreements: Regardless of seroconcordance, fewer men over time required consistent condom use with their regular partners (linear trend <.001); among men in HIV-negative concordant relationships, an increasing proportion required a monogamous arrangement with their regular partner (linear trend <.001); and over time, fewer men in general required consistent condom use with casual partners (linear trend <.001). | ||||
| Discussion: Negotiated agreements among some gay men have become less consistent with the concept of negotiated safety. Some of these changes in negotiated agreements among gay men are likely to increasingly include forms of risk-minimisation other than condom use, at least some of which will represent an increase in potential risk of HIV/STI transmission. | ||||
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