Two researchers from the University of Ottawa's School of Nursing and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Nursing are conducting a study to understand the motivations of men who have unprotected anal sex with other men.
Professors Dave Holmes (Ottawa) and Denise Gastaldo (Toronto) have just obtained a Canadian Institutes of Health Research operating grant to conduct their study.
Unsafe sex is still occurring even though the risks have been well documented since the onset of the AIDS epidemic. Unprotected sex among HIV- positive or negative men occurs frequently in public spaces and the practice of unprotected anal intercourse - "bareback sex" - has been growing in popularity over the past four years. In a 2003 pilot study, Holmes found that men who have sex with men often show resistance towards public health messages that highlight the risks of unprotected anal sex.
The new research, which will be grounded in the conclusions of Holmes' 2003 study, will help fill an important gap in current nursing and public health literature on unsafe sexual practices. The researchers will conduct interviews with men who have unprotected anal sex with other men in public spaces such as sex shops, bath houses, and porn theaters in two major Canadian cities.
Over 500 men recruited in bath houses in Toronto and Montréal answered a questionnaire. Among those participants, 24 agreed to meet the researchers for an in-depth interview. Data analysis will start in early October 2004.
