AEGiS-14IAC: Double jeapody: findings from Project HIGH on gay men who inject drugs and prevention education in Melbourne, Australia.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Double jeapody: findings from Project HIGH on gay men who inject drugs and prevention education in Melbourne, Australia.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. TuOrE1244)

Dowsett GW, Wain D, Peterson K, Voon D
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health &Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

BACKGROUND: This study investigated Australian gay men who inject drugs (GMIDU) in Melbourne, focusing on the relationship between gay culture, recreational sex & drug use, & injecting drug use (IDU) within that culture. Sex between men and IDU together account for 4% of cumulative HIV infections, in comparison with 78% attributed to sex between men alone. Injecting drug use alone among other Australians accounts for a further 4.5% of infections. As a result, GMIDU are often forgotten in prevention programs focused solely on sex between men or on IDU in general. Little is known about risk taking & risk assessment among GMIDU, not just for HIV but also Hepatitis C & other blood-borne viruses.

METHOD: The study was undertaken in 2000 in collaboration with the Victorian AIDS Council & funded by the National Health & Medical Research Council. The methodology was qualitative using a quasi-ethnographic approach consisting of 30 semi-structured interviews with GMIDU, 6 focus groups based on HIV/HCV status & drug/s of choice (amphetamines, heroin etc.), & a set of 'community observations' undertaken at gay community venues/events & of gay media discourses on drug use over a 6-month period.

RESULTS: The study found that Melbourne's gay community response to IDU was not supportive & IDU was a more secretive activity as a result. However, attachment to gay community was implicated in both patterns & history of drug use. A sense of belonging to gay community was different among men from different social classes & these differences also related to drugs of choice & to sexual interests, particularly sex work.

CONCLUSIONS: There are definite 'gay' ways to take drugs that situate drug taking within gay culture in complex ways. The notion of a 'safety zone' in IDU & understanding collective 'ways of using' drugs among gay men in general provide valuable findings for prevention among GMIDU. Workshops for AIDS educators on the findings are helping to develop new initiatives.

Keywords: AEGIS, Homosexuality, Male, Teaching, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, HIV Infections, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Australia, Substance-Related Disorders, HIV Seropositivity, Human, Male, education, prevention & control, diagnosis

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TuOrE1244