Young men who have sex with men in the South West Peninsula: recent data from The National Gay Mens

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Young men who have sex with men in the South West
Peninsula recent data from The National Gay
Mens Sex Survey Ford Hickson Senior Research
Fellow Sigma Research, University of Portsmouth
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Overview

• The survey
• Sample descriptions
• Sexual behaviours
• Drug and alcohol use
• Homophobic crime

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The National Gay Mens Sex Survey

• Annual short self-completion survey for gay and
  bisexual men.
• Designed within Making It Count in
  collaboration with health promoters.
• Gathers evidence of HIV risk behaviours HIV
  prevention needs.
• Rolling stock of questions.
• Funded by THT as part of CHAPS.
• Disseminated in a variety of outputs for data
  users.

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The National Gay Mens Sex Survey Recruitment
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Men living in England 14,477
SW Peninsula 285 (2.0 of England)
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Number of SW Peninsula residents in the recent
GMSS
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285 men living in SW Peninsula in GMSS 2005
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Booklet recruiters Respondents 86 Eddystone
Trust Plymouth 50 Cornwall Isles of Scilly
HP Redruth 16 LGB Health Project
Exeter 10 THT West Bristol 5 Men4Men
Luton 1 THT Midlands Coventry 1 Jigsaw
Project Birkenhead 1 Unknown 2 Website
recruiters Respondents 199 Gaydar 105 Gay.c
om 70 Eddystone Trust 5 Sigma
Research 4 GMFA Metrom8 2 THT 3 Trade
1 Unknown 9
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Overview

• The survey
• Sample descriptions
• Sexual behaviours
• Drug and alcohol use
• Homophobic crime

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Age in more detail
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HIV testing
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Overview

• The survey
• Sample descriptions
• Sexual behaviours
• Drug and alcohol use
• Homophobic crime

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Gender of sex partners across the age range (SE
Peninsula)
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Number of male sex partners in last year across
the age range (ns)
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Overview

• The survey
• Sample descriptions
• Sexual behaviours
• Drug and alcohol use
• Homophobic crime

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Smoking in the Gay Mens Sex Survey vs. Men in
the General Household Survey
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I would like to stop smoking tobacco Smokers in
in SW Peninsula
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Drugs whose use varies by ageMen living in SW
Peninsula
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I sometimes worry about my recreational drug
use Men in SW Peninsula who used illicit drugs
in last year
Strongly agree 5 Agree 15 Not
sure 14 Disagree 30 Strongly
disagree 35 Did not vary by age
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I sometimes worry about how much I drink
Drinkers in SW Peninsula
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Proportion of men with current potential to gain
from drugs and alcohol services
Benefit from drugs services 12 Benefit from
smoking cessation 20 Benefit from alcohol
services 25
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Overview

• The survey
• Sample descriptions
• Sexual behaviours
• Drug and alcohol use
• Homophobic crime

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Annual incidence of homophobic hate-crime (SE
Peninsula)
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Summary

• Both men and services in the SW Peninsula make
  an important contribution to The National Gay
  Mens Sex Survey.
• The survey provides data that supplements local
  needs assessments of gay and bisexual mens
  health (at no local cost).
• MSM in the SW are less ethnically diverse and
  earn less than MSM elsewhere in England.
• HIV testing and HIV prevalence are lower than
  elsewhere in England.

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Summary

• There is a wide range of sexual lifestyles
  among MSM in the SW.
• Sexual HIV risk is common, especially among
  younger men.
• Smoking, alcohol and illicit drugs are as
  common as elsewhere in England, with large
  potential for benefit from services.
• Anti-gay hate-crime is common, especially for
  younger men.

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Contacts

• Local data reports on the Sigma Research
  website
• www.sigmaresearch.org.uk
• Data enquiries and GMSS distribution
• 020 7820 8022