Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Perceived Changes in Sexual Practices Among Homosexual Men
AIDS & Public Policy Journal 3, no. 1 (Winter 1988): 25-28 Don Johnson and H. Marie McGrath
The purpose of the study was to determine whether homosexual men had changed their sexual practices relative to their behavior during the same 30-day period one year earlier. A total of 390 subjects were recruited from AIDS foundations, gay churches, gay bars, and public health departments in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas. The subjects were given two instruments to complete: a present sexual practices scale and a past sexual practices scale. The present sexual practices scale consists of 16 items related to current practices (during the past 30 days), and the past sexual practices scale includes the same 16 items (during the same 30-day period one year earlier). An expert panel consisting of a virologist, a physician, a nursing educator, and an infection control nurse reviewed the instruments for accuracy and clarity. After the instruments were revised, there was 100 percent agreement among the panel. Each question had four to six possible answers which were rated from 0 (low risk) to 5 (high risk). Practices identified as potential risks for virus transmission included anal insertive and receptive sex, particularly without a condom; oral insertive and receptive sex, particularly without a condom; biting or piercing leading to bleeding; receptive and insertive rimming (oral-anal contact); swallowing of semen; multiple sexual partners; having sex with anonymous partners; fisting (hand/finger-anal contact); wet kissing; and sharing of anal toys. Although intravenous drug abuse is not a sexual behavior, sharing of needles for intravenous drugs was also included as a risk behavior for the transmission of HIV.
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
