Marseille 2007
| Abstract #508 - The Influence of Partners Behaviors on Sexual Risk in a High-risk Population | ||||
|
Session: 23.4: Sex and Risk (Parallel) on Monday @ 16.30-18.30 in CP Chaired by Ulrike Sonnenberg Schwan, Marc-Eric Gruenais Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Elizabeth Costenbader - RTI, International, United States |
||||
| Additional Authors: Dr William Zule, Mr Curtis Coomes, Dr Wendee Wechsberg, | ||||
| Aim: Many people attempt to minimize their sexual risk for HIV by engaging in unprotected intercourse only in the context of a mutually monogamous relationship. In recent years another approach, referred to as negotiated safety has become popular among some gay men and heterosexuals. In negotiated safety relationships may not be monogamous, but any sexual encounters outside the relationship always involve protection. The effectiveness of both approaches is dependent upon the accuracy of a couples knowledge regarding their partners HIV status and sexual behaviors outside the relationship. This presentation examines perceptions of partners sexual behaviors and how these perceptions influence risk. | ||||
| Method / Issue: As part of a NIDA funded cooperative agreement program (grant # U01DA017373) drug users, MSM and their sexual partners were recruited in North Carolina using respondent driven sampling. Of 940 respondents enrolled during the first year of data collection, 792 reported detailed information about at least one of their last 3 sexual partners in the past six months. Information about each of these 1446 sexual partnerships was analyzed to assess participants perceptions abut their partners. Multivariate GEE models that adjusted for whether a participant had additional partners, the relationship to partner, drug use by either partner, gender of partner and within person correlations were used to assess associations between perceptions of partners risk behaviors and the sexual risk behaviors engaged in by that couple. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Of the 792 participants who provided detailed information about their sexual partnerships, 748 reported about only one partner, 425 reported about two, and 273 reported information about three. Over 75% of the sample participants and their sexual partners were African-American. The mean age of participants was 40 and of their sexual partners was 37. Fifteen percent of the women and twenty-percent of the men reported engaging in sex with men and women during the past 6 months and another 10% of men reported engaging only in sex with men. Thirty percent (436/1446) of events involved unprotected sex acts. Sixteen percent (70/436) of the unprotected acts occurred with a main partner and only 6% (24/436) occurred between 2 men. Twenty-nine percent (228/792) of the participants reported having other sexual partners while involved with the sexual partner being discussed and participants perceived that 44% (630/1446) of their partners had additional sexual partners as well. In the multivariate models if the respondent reported having other sexual partners, he or she was 40% less likely (OR = 0.63) to report having engaged in unprotected sex. However, if the respondent perceived that the partner had more than one other sexual partner, he or she was 1.7 times more likely to engage in unprotected sex with that partner. | ||||
| Discussion: The fact that individuals in a high-risk population, which includes many bisexual and drug-using individuals, report engaging in unprotected intercourse even with partners they perceive to have other partners suggest that current prevention efforts are inadequate. Additional research is needed to determine what type of intervention would be most effective with this group and to incorporate these findings into interventions. | ||||
| Go Back | ||||
