Attitudes Toward Peer-Delivered Sexual-Health Services Among New York City Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals Who Have Sex with Men and Attend Collective Sex Venues

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Étienne Meunier, Columbia University; Daniel Alohan, Columbia University; Stephen Tellone, Columbia University; Richard Silvera, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Alwyn Cohall, Columbia University; Adam Baran, Independent researcher; Michael Wakefield, Independent researcher; C Grov, City University of New York; Celia B Fisher, Fordham University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-06-01
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2022.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10497323221101714
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: QUALITATIVE HEALTH RESEARCH
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 7
• Start Page: 1167
• End Page: 1184
• Keywords: transgender and gender nonconforming individuals; peer-based work; collective sex venues; HIV/STI prevention; bisexual; sexual health; men who have sex with men; Gay

Abstract

Collective sex venues such as sex clubs are strategic sites to promote sexual health among sexual and gender minority individuals. We present qualitative findings from a multiple-method study on the acceptability of sexual-health services at collective sex venues in New York City (NYC) among attendees who identified as men, transgender, or gender non-conforming. In a survey used for sample selection (n = 342), most respondents (82.7%) agreed that “having outreach workers at sex venues is a good thing.” Interviewees (n = 30) appreciated how on-site services could promote sexual health in their community. They felt peer workers should be familiar with collective sex venues and share demographic characteristics with attendees. Some participants felt workers should keep some boundaries from attendees, while others felt they could be fully integrated in the environment, suggesting that either peer outreach or popular-opinion leader types of interventions could be feasible.