Tag Archives: Flux Study

Flux Study COVID-19 Diary Recruitment and Report

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Kirby Institute, UNSW, July 2020

Social distancing restrictions due to COVID-19 may affect how gay and bisexual men are arranging their sex lives and taking care of their health. And this will likely also affect trends in HIV infection and STIs over coming months, or even years. Monitoring the impact of COVID-19, before, during, and after the pandemic, is essential to understanding and responding to trends in HIV infection, mental health, and STIs.

​This study investigating the lived experiences of COVID-19 among gay and bisexual men including isolation, support, mental health and resilience, income loss, and access to health services. We will address how gay and bisexual men experience, engage with, and emerge from, COVID-19.

​What does participation in this research require? 

If you decide to take part in this study, we will ask you to do the following:

  1. Your first questionnaire: This questionnaire collects information about you and your previous experiences.

  2. Weekly diary: After completing the your first survey, you will be asked to complete a 5-minute diary each Sunday.

​What’s in it for you? 

We value our participants! To show our appreciation, for every survey you complete, you’ll automatically go in a raffle to win prizes in the form of gift cards to the value of $200.

Links

Flux study first report: drug use among gay men and bisexual men

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Kirby Institute, May 2016

The Flux Study, a study of drug use (and non-use) among gay and bisexual men, has recently released its first annual report.

Flux is a cohort study of 2251 men, including over 1700 who are being followed at 6-monthly intervals. It identifies: risk factors, prevalence, incidence, and associated harms of drug use; the role of gay community norms in individuals’ beliefs about drug use; and implications for HIV/HCV infection.

 

Some early key findings show that:

•             Over three quarters (81.6%) have ever used illicit drugs, with half (50.5%) having done so in the previous six months.

•             The most commonly and frequently used drugs were marijuana and amyl nitrite, but over a quarter (28.8%) had used any party drugs (including amphetamine-type stimulants and cocaine) in the previous six months.

•             Men in the sample tended to express fairly negative opinions about illicit drug use within the gay community, although they tended to be less concerned about their own illicit drug use.

•             The two most common reasons for drug use were to enjoy a sexual encounter (61.8%) and socialising (54.5%).

Flux is a collaboration between the Kirby Institute, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society (ARCSHS), the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH), ACON, and Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men’s Health Centre.

 Download report (PDF) here