RESUMO
Background: Although significant progress has been made in the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, even today this population still faces stigma and discrimination that impacts their mental health. In the case of men who have sex with men, it has been demonstrated that the use of drugs in a sexual context (chemsex) is one of the coping mechanisms and means of escape to deal with these situations. Method: We assessed 284 native Spanish speakers' participants, 45,4 % were not engaged in sexualised drug use (n = 129) while 54,6 % were chemsex users (n = 155) using 18,7 % of them the injected via. The participants completed six questionnaires about life and sexual satisfaction, depression, anxiety, internalised homophobia and personality. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were performed to assess the associations between sexual behaviour-related and psychological variables. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to analysed the impact on mental health of the administration via. Results: Aged, unprotected sexual relationships, positive serostatus, homonegativity and conscientiousness predicted the chemsex engagement. Furthermore, we found differences regarding the administration via. Conclusions: We conclude that mental health significantly correlates with the practice of chemsex, highlighting the importance of integrating mental health considerations into the prevention of risky sexual behaviors.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been implemented as a prevention against HIV; however, its impact on mental health, sexual and life satisfaction has not been addressed. METHOD: We assessed 114 HIV-negative participants from Spain with ages ranging from 19 to 58 years; 60.5% were PrEP users ( n = 69) and 39.5% were non-users ( n = 45). They completed five questionnaires about life and sexual satisfaction, depression and anxiety. We performed correlations and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: The PrEP group showed a statistically significant relationship between better sexual satisfaction, and greater life satisfaction. The PrEP group also showed a statistically significant negative relationship with depression and anxiety which was not found in PrEP non-users. Moreover, we found that younger PrEP users had higher scores in anxiety and lower scores in depression than older users. The hierarchical regression analyses also showed that number of sexual partners was a major predictor in the PrEP group for NSSS. CONCLUSIONS: The indirect correlation between sexual satisfaction, depression, and anxiety in the PrEP group could underly the benefits of PrEP for patients' sex lives such as increased sexual liberties due to lower anxiety and mental comfort when experiencing chemsex.