Women in contact with the Sydney gay and lesbian community: Report of the Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) Survey 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016
The Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) survey is a comprehensive survey of important health issues relevant to lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women including sexual health and wellbeing, violence, mental health, tobacco use, illicit drug use, alcohol consumption, and cancer screening behaviours. SWASH is run by a collaboration of ACON and researchers at the University of Sydney (since 2009; prior to this researchers were based at the University of New South Wales). It was first carried out in 1996, initiated by workers from two ACON projects, Women Partners of Gay and Bisexual Men and the Gay and Lesbian Injecting Drug Use Project, who were faced with a lack of empirical evidence on which to base their intervention work. The survey is regularly revised to reflect the needs of the community and knowledge deficits identified through research literature. Where possible, questions are used from established national surveys such as the Australian Health Survey, National Drug Strategy Household Survey, Australian Study of Health and Relationships, and Australian Longitudinal Survey of Women’s Health. Australian epidemiological data on sexual health, mental health, experiences of abuse and violence, preventive health practices, and behaviours such as illicit drug use, alcohol use and smoking remains inconsistent. The inclusion of sexuality questions in large epidemiological surveys remains patchy, and data is often reported only by sexuality and not by sexuality and gender. In this context, SWASH provides a unique and important source of health-related information on Australian LBQ women. This report presents results from surveys conducted at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day and other community events and venues during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras seasons in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. It highlights several areas of particular concern – many of which have persisted over time – where mainstream preventive health interventions that are inclusive of this group or targeted to LBQ women, are needed.ACON Healt
