Research Reports

This report summarises key findings from mathematical modelling undertaken in 2018–2019 to provide insight into the infectious syphilis outbreak in Indigenous Australians occurring in regional and remote areas of Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. The research was undertaken by the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, for the Multi-jurisdictional Syphilis Outbreak (MJSO) Working Group with funding from the Australian Department of Health.

The major aim of the 2007-2008 Three or More Study (TOMS) project was to provide data on risk behaviour and condom negotiation in a cross-sectional sample of homosexually active men who engage in group sex. The study was conceived and designed in consultation with ACON, with funding from the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Health for the NSW component of the study, and additional support from VAC and QAHC to enable the study to be extended to Victoria and Queensland respectively.

This study was developed against a backdrop of major changes in the HIV prevention landscape. The emergence of new prevention approaches and technologies offers the potential to profoundly impact prevention engagement with Australian gay men but relatively little is known about the level of knowledge and hence preparedness of gay communities to engage with this new prevention paradigm. These fundamental shifts in HIV prevention responses and in treatment methods will profoundly affect HIV prevention education within gay communities.

This report presents findings on the mental health of 465 justice-involved young people. Findings are drawn from a wider survey of the mental, sexual and reproductive health of young people (14–17 years old) in contact with the justice system (MEH-JOSH study) conducted in Queensland and Western Australia between 2016 and 2018. This survey aimed to overcome key knowledge gaps of this group who are often underrepresented in, or excluded from, research and community surveys.

The Seroconversion Study has existed in several forms since 1992. This most recent version completed data collection in 2015. Seroconversion studies have played an important role in the Australian HIV response and are a useful research tool in understanding the current circumstances of HIV infection. This version of the Seroconversion Study occurred at a time of rapid and fundamental changes in our understandings, and implementation, of HIV treatment and prevention. As with previous versions of the study, it mainly targeted gay and bisexual men (GBM).

The PASH Study collected both quantitative and qualitative data from mainly homosexual men to ascertain their understandings of pleasure and how it affects the decisions they make about sex. Men were recruited from a range of sources including gay community events, online social networking websites, and gay dating websites. A website presented information about the study and provided a gateway to the online survey; men also had the option of being interviewed face-­to­‐face. 2306 men completed the survey and 40 were interviewed in depth.

For gay men living in Cairns, life probably remains very similar to how it was when the first “Out” on the Reef report was written in 2000. Men continue to be drawn there by the relaxed, tropical lifestyle, wilfully leaving behind the stress of larger urban gay communities. The men in these focus groups described differing levels of attachment to any gay community in Cairns, which generally matched their desire for it. For the most part, the wider community increasingly embraced the diverse nature of the expanding Cairns population.