Romania (2005): HIV/AIDS TraC Study among Men who have Sex with Men First Round

Abstract

The objective of this study was to gather quantitative information regarding sexuality-related behaviors and determinants among men who have sex with men in Romania, from a wide sample of men. The primary areas of interest were sexual relationships, condom use and related determinants, and health service utilization for HIV and STI testing. The findings will be critical for PSI in both improving its current internet-based MSM programming, as well as providing insight for a new intervention it will conduct which borrows heavily from the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) intervention designed by the University of Wisconsin's Canter for AIDS Intervention Research. The survey was designed to be implemented on the internet. This method was chosen given the difficulty of reaching a sizeable sample of men who have sex with men in Romania, and was based on a review on the use of this methodology and on the positive experience with such research conducted among MSM in the United Kingdom by Sigma Research (further details are provided in the Methodology section, Annex 2). Due to the obvious self-selection bias of the respondents (i.e., men who have access to the internet and who chose to respond to the survey), the findings cannot be generalized to all men who have sex with men in Romania. Nevertheless, it is important to note that this method has been used with success elsewhere in gathering important information among MSM. Responses in this survey came from over 21 Romanian cities (with the largest share from Bucharest); this is the first study of its kind (including a sample size of over 400) among this population in Romania