European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS-2017). National report of France

 European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS-2017).  National report of France

The European MSM Internet Survey 2017 (EMIS-2017) on the behaviors of men who have sex with men aimed to collect data to guide the planning of HIV prevention and treatment programs and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The EMIS-2017 survey was coordinated by the research group SIGMA Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The EMIS-2017 survey was conducted in 50 countries. The French edition of EMIS-2017 is the result of a partnership between the associations AIDES, Coalition PLUS and Public Health France. EMIS-2017 is a cross-sectional survey whose data was collected through an online, self-administered and anonymous questionnaire. The survey took place from December 19, 2017 to January 30, 2018. The questionnaire mainly addressed sexual and preventive behaviors vis-à-vis HIV and other STIs, drug use, physical and mental health. Respondents were recruited via gay dating platforms and applications, LGBT+ association sites and social networks. In France, 10,996 MSM took part in the survey and 9,782 were selected for the analyses. The sample of respondents to the EMIS-2017 survey is made up almost exclusively of cis-gender men, mostly born in France, with a median age of 38, urban, educated, employed and not encountering difficulties. acute financial. Most of them declared themselves to be homosexual and those around them knew their sexual orientation. More than a third of respondents indicated that they had a stable relationship, the majority of them with a man. Concerning the knowledge of the HIV status of the respondents and their use of screening, 12% reported being HIV-positive, 3/4 had done at least one HIV test during their life and declared being HIV-negative while 12% had never received the results of a screening. The majority of respondents living with HIV (94%) reported having an undetectable viral load. Of respondents who said they had not been diagnosed with HIV at the time of the survey, 9% said they had ever used PrEP. In terms of sexuality, respondents were predominantly sexually active. In the past 12 months, almost half (48%) reported having had sex with one or more stable male partners and a large majority (84%) with one or more occasional male partners. Of these, 52% had had 10 or more partners over the period. Only 9% of respondents said they had had sexual relations with one or more women during the year. Preventive behaviors varied according to the type of partner and the declared HIV status. If 3/4 of the respondents declared not to have used a condom during their sexual relations with their stable partner, half of the respondents having sexual relations with occasional partners were in this case. Respondents who were HIV-positive and those whose last test was negative on PrEP mostly indicated that they did not use a condom during their sexual relations, whether with their stable partner (respectively 81% and 86%), or occasional partners (respectively 82% % and 87%); the condom giving way to biomedical prevention (Tasp for Treatment as prevention and PrEP). For respondents non-users of PrEP whose last test was negative and those who had never tested, condom non-use with stable partners was 74% and 63% respectively and with occasional partners it was 74% and 63% respectively. was 47% for both groups. The consumption of psychoactive products was high. With regard to tobacco, nearly half of the respondents indicated that they had smoked during the year. Alcohol was the most experienced product, the most often consumed in the year and in the last four weeks. On the CAGE-4 scale, nearly 17% of respondents had scores that placed them in the at-risk category for alcohol dependence. In addition, almost a third of the respondents reported having used cannabis and almost 10% ecstasy or GHB in the last 12 months. As for the practice of Chemsex in the last 12 months, it had been reported by 14% of respondents. Mental health indicators describe problematic situations. While a small proportion of respondents showed “strong signs” of anxiety (6%), nearly a quarter said they had had suicidal thoughts in the past fortnight. The level of internalized homophobia was low. On the other hand, 68% of respondents said they had been victims of homophobic acts during their life and almost a third during the last 12 months. Although the methodological limitations inherent in this type of voluntary survey do not allow the results to be generalized to the entire population of MSM, the data collected by EMIS-2017 are valuable for the development of actions. and prevention and promotion campaigns for the sexual health of MSM: many challenges remain to be met.

Author : Alain Tristan, Villes Virginie, Morel Stéphane, Moudachirou Khafil, Annequin Margot, Delabre Rosemary, Michels David, Rojas Castro Daniela, Velter Annie
Year of publication: 2022
Pages: 103p.
Collection : Studies and surveys