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Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions stopped people freely engaging in sexual behaviour. We explored sexual behaviour amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) using mixed methods during the multiple lockdowns in Wales. METHODS: An online survey was advertised on social me...

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Autores principales: Williams, Adam, Gillespie, David, Couzens, Zoë, Wood, Fiona, Hughes, Kathryn, Hood, Kerenza
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8874301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35216575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12821-w
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author Williams, Adam
Gillespie, David
Couzens, Zoë
Wood, Fiona
Hughes, Kathryn
Hood, Kerenza
author_facet Williams, Adam
Gillespie, David
Couzens, Zoë
Wood, Fiona
Hughes, Kathryn
Hood, Kerenza
author_sort Williams, Adam
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions stopped people freely engaging in sexual behaviour. We explored sexual behaviour amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) using mixed methods during the multiple lockdowns in Wales. METHODS: An online survey was advertised on social media platforms (focusing on Welsh LGBT groups), from June 2020 to July 2020. MSM over 16 years were invited to take part if they were resident in Wales. Qualitative interviews were undertaken as part of a study examining knowledge and awareness of sexual health. Interviews were conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 via Zoom©. Interview data was analysed thematically and integrated with survey data. RESULTS: The survey received 70 responses, 60% (n = 42) reported not having sexual activity during lockdown. Restrictions altered the number of new sexual partners per week with over 80% (n = 56) not having any new sexual partners for the 12 weeks of the first lockdown. However, as the weeks progressed following the first lockdown there was an increase in the number of new sexual partners. Interview data indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on reducing sexual behaviour with other MSM in Wales. ‘Lockdown fatigue’ was viewed to result in different levels of adherence to the lockdown rules depending on the lockdown being discussed. Of those engaging in sex outside the rules, ‘shame’ was commonly reported. The restrictions were believed to have a positive impact on reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions had a significant impact on sexual behaviours among MSM in Wales, with the majority fully adhering to the lockdown rules. Although the population were largely compliant with the lockdown restrictions, lockdown fatigue may suggest that any future lockdowns might not have the same effect. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-12821-w.
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spelling pubmed-88743012022-02-25 Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study Williams, Adam Gillespie, David Couzens, Zoë Wood, Fiona Hughes, Kathryn Hood, Kerenza BMC Public Health Research BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions stopped people freely engaging in sexual behaviour. We explored sexual behaviour amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) using mixed methods during the multiple lockdowns in Wales. METHODS: An online survey was advertised on social media platforms (focusing on Welsh LGBT groups), from June 2020 to July 2020. MSM over 16 years were invited to take part if they were resident in Wales. Qualitative interviews were undertaken as part of a study examining knowledge and awareness of sexual health. Interviews were conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 via Zoom©. Interview data was analysed thematically and integrated with survey data. RESULTS: The survey received 70 responses, 60% (n = 42) reported not having sexual activity during lockdown. Restrictions altered the number of new sexual partners per week with over 80% (n = 56) not having any new sexual partners for the 12 weeks of the first lockdown. However, as the weeks progressed following the first lockdown there was an increase in the number of new sexual partners. Interview data indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on reducing sexual behaviour with other MSM in Wales. ‘Lockdown fatigue’ was viewed to result in different levels of adherence to the lockdown rules depending on the lockdown being discussed. Of those engaging in sex outside the rules, ‘shame’ was commonly reported. The restrictions were believed to have a positive impact on reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions had a significant impact on sexual behaviours among MSM in Wales, with the majority fully adhering to the lockdown rules. Although the population were largely compliant with the lockdown restrictions, lockdown fatigue may suggest that any future lockdowns might not have the same effect. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-12821-w. BioMed Central 2022-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8874301/ /pubmed/35216575 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12821-w Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
Williams, Adam
Gillespie, David
Couzens, Zoë
Wood, Fiona
Hughes, Kathryn
Hood, Kerenza
Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title_full Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title_fullStr Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title_full_unstemmed Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title_short Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study
title_sort changing sexual behaviours amongst msm during the covid-19 restrictions in wales: a mixed methods study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8874301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35216575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12821-w
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