Chemsex users in Czechia: EMIS survey

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00023752%3A_____%2F22%3A43920891" target="_blank" >RIV/00023752:_____/22:43920891 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://cejph.szu.cz/artkey/cjp-202202-0004_chemsex-users-in-czechia-emis-survey.php" target="_blank" >https://cejph.szu.cz/artkey/cjp-202202-0004_chemsex-users-in-czechia-emis-survey.php</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.21101/cejph.a6923" target="_blank" >10.21101/cejph.a6923</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Chemsex users in Czechia: EMIS survey

Original language description

Objectives: Chemsex is a phenomenon highly relevant to public health concerns. Our primary aim is to describe the Czech chemsex scene regarding substances used, sexual behaviour, mental health, sexual life satisfaction, internalization of homonegative attitudes, and prevalent chemsex patterns. Methods: The data from the European Men Who Have Sex With Men Internet Survey (EMIS) 2017 were used. The mental health of chemsex users was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ4), internalized homonegativity was measured using the Short Internalized Homonegativity Scale. A sample of 87 men who have sex with men (MSM) chemsex users and a comparison group of 261 MSM were selected from the total sample of 1,688 respondents. Mann-Whitney and χ2 tests were used to compare groups. Results: Active chemsex users made up 5% of the sample (87 of 1,688), with an average age of 37 years. Chemsex users were more likely to engage in condomless sex with non-steady partners (χ2 = 46.8, p &lt; 0.001), and had dramatically more STIs, such as HIV (χ2 = 52.9, p &lt; 0.001), HCV (χ2 = 25.9, p &lt; 0.001), and syphilis (χ2 = 41.5, p &lt; 0.001). Chemsex users frequently injected drugs (n = 19, 20%). More than half (n = 48; 55%) of chemsex users had sober sex in the last 4 weeks. Chemsex culture was associated with riskier substance use, both in terms of mode and frequency. The mental health of chemsex users in our sample did not differ significantly from the comparison group (χ2 = 0.2, p &lt; 0.7). Chemsex users did not conceal their sexual identity more often than the comparison group, on the contrary, 69% (n = 59) of them were out to most significant others, compared to 53% (n = 134) in the comparison group (χ2 = 8.8, p &lt; 0.05). In addition, we did not find differences in the degree of internalized homonegativity (χ2 = 0.9, p &lt; 0.4). Chemsex users were clearly and significantly more satisfied with their sex life than the comparison group (Mann-Whitney U test, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: In our sample, chemsex use was not associated with a negative impact on health or wellbeing. Our results suggest that chemsex is not a homogeneous phenomenon. Many different patterns and subcultures exist, some of them are riskier, some safer than others.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

30312 - Substance abuse

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA19-14801S" target="_blank" >GA19-14801S: Minority stress in non-heterosexuals in the Czech Republic</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Central European Journal of Public Health

ISSN

1210-7778

e-ISSN

1803-1048

Volume of the periodical

30

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

7

Pages from-to

86-92

UT code for WoS article

000847241100004

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85135282539