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Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, may be above 10%. The aim of this study was to explore sexual relationship patterns and experiences among MSM in Hanoi, to inform HIV preventive efforts. Using purposi...

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Autores principales: Bengtsson, Linus, Thorson, Anna, Thanh, Vu Pham Nguyen, Allebeck, Peter, Popenoe, Rebecca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23384277
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-108
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author Bengtsson, Linus
Thorson, Anna
Thanh, Vu Pham Nguyen
Allebeck, Peter
Popenoe, Rebecca
author_facet Bengtsson, Linus
Thorson, Anna
Thanh, Vu Pham Nguyen
Allebeck, Peter
Popenoe, Rebecca
author_sort Bengtsson, Linus
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, may be above 10%. The aim of this study was to explore sexual relationship patterns and experiences among MSM in Hanoi, to inform HIV preventive efforts. Using purposive sampling we recruited 17 MSM in Hanoi, Vietnam, for in-depth interviews. Participants were aged between 19 and 48 years and came from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Content analysis was used. RESULTS: Almost all men in the study saw their same-sex attraction as part of their "nature". Many informants had secret but rich social lives within the MSM social circles in Hanoi. However, poor men had difficulties connecting to these networks. Lifetime sexual partner numbers ranged from one to 200. Seven participants had at some point in their lives been in relationships lasting from one to four years. For several men, relationships were not primarily centered on romantic feelings but instead intimately connected to economic and practical dependence. Sexual relationships varied greatly in terms of emotional attachment, commitment, trust, relationship ideals, sexual satisfaction and exchange of money or gifts. Faithfulness was highly valued but largely seen as unobtainable. Several informants felt strong family pressure to marry a woman and have children. CONCLUSIONS: This study contextualizes sexual relationships among MSM in Hanoi and highlights the extent to which HIV prevention activities need to not only consider HIV prevention in the context of casual sexual encounters but also how to adequately target preventive efforts that can reach MSM in relationships.
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spelling pubmed-36216032013-04-10 Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study Bengtsson, Linus Thorson, Anna Thanh, Vu Pham Nguyen Allebeck, Peter Popenoe, Rebecca BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, may be above 10%. The aim of this study was to explore sexual relationship patterns and experiences among MSM in Hanoi, to inform HIV preventive efforts. Using purposive sampling we recruited 17 MSM in Hanoi, Vietnam, for in-depth interviews. Participants were aged between 19 and 48 years and came from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Content analysis was used. RESULTS: Almost all men in the study saw their same-sex attraction as part of their "nature". Many informants had secret but rich social lives within the MSM social circles in Hanoi. However, poor men had difficulties connecting to these networks. Lifetime sexual partner numbers ranged from one to 200. Seven participants had at some point in their lives been in relationships lasting from one to four years. For several men, relationships were not primarily centered on romantic feelings but instead intimately connected to economic and practical dependence. Sexual relationships varied greatly in terms of emotional attachment, commitment, trust, relationship ideals, sexual satisfaction and exchange of money or gifts. Faithfulness was highly valued but largely seen as unobtainable. Several informants felt strong family pressure to marry a woman and have children. CONCLUSIONS: This study contextualizes sexual relationships among MSM in Hanoi and highlights the extent to which HIV prevention activities need to not only consider HIV prevention in the context of casual sexual encounters but also how to adequately target preventive efforts that can reach MSM in relationships. BioMed Central 2013-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3621603/ /pubmed/23384277 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-108 Text en Copyright © 2013 Bengtsson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bengtsson, Linus
Thorson, Anna
Thanh, Vu Pham Nguyen
Allebeck, Peter
Popenoe, Rebecca
Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title_full Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title_fullStr Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title_full_unstemmed Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title_short Sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative interview study
title_sort sexual relationships among men who have sex with men in hanoi, vietnam: a qualitative interview study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23384277
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-108
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