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Measurements of Sexuality-Based Stigma among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (GBMSM) in Resource-Poor Settings: A Review

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Abstract

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in resource-poor settings are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. GBMSM living in these settings may face unique barriers to HIV prevention, including legal barriers and increased sexuality-based stigma. It is therefore imperative to tailor HIV prevention and care resources to recognize the lived realities of GBMSM in these settings. Central to this is the accurate measurement of sexuality-based stigma. However, there is wide inconsistency in how sexuality-based stigma is measured among GBMSM in resource-poor settings. This paper reviews recent studies of sexuality-based stigma among GBMSM in resource-poor settings, finding great variability in measurements. The results of the review call for greater attention to the development of contextually and culturally specific measures of sexuality-based stigma for GBMSM living in resource-poor settings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Ryan Freeland, Erin Rogers, Lynae Darbes & Rob Stephenson

  2. Health Informatics Joint Degree Program, School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Ryan Freeland

  3. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Erin Rogers

  4. Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, 400 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI, 48103, USA

    Lynae Darbes & Rob Stephenson

  5. Department of Human and Social Development, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa

    Heidi van Rooyen

  6. Taubman Health Sciences Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Kate Saylor

Authors
  1. Ryan Freeland
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  2. Erin Rogers
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  3. Heidi van Rooyen
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  4. Lynae Darbes
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  5. Kate Saylor
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  6. Rob Stephenson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rob Stephenson.

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Funding

This study did not require any funding.

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The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Appendix: Database Search Strings

Appendix: Database Search Strings

PubMed http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/9817

  1. 1.

    (“Homosexuality”[Mesh] OR “Homosexuality, Male”[Mesh] OR “Bisexuality”[Mesh] OR MSM [tiab] OR “men who have sex with men” [tiab] OR Homosexual* [tiab] OR Bisexual*[tiab] OR gay[tiab] OR gays[tiab] OR queer*[tiab])

  2. 2.

    (“Social Stigma”[Mesh] OR “Homophobia”[Mesh] OR “Prejudice”[Mesh] OR “Rejection (Psychology)”[Mesh] OR “Violence”[Mesh] OR “Workplace Violence”[Mesh] OR “Social Discrimination”[Mesh] OR “Stereotyping”[Mesh] OR “Stress, Psychological”[Mesh] OR “Scapegoating”[Mesh] OR “Crime Victims”[Mesh] OR homophob*[tiab] OR prejudice*[tiab] OR violence [tiab] OR violent[tiab] OR Discrimination[tiab] OR Discriminate*[tiab] OR Stereotyp*[tiab] OR “Anti-Homosexuality”[tiab] OR antigay [tiab] OR Scapegoat*[tiab] OR stress [tiab] OR homonegativity[tiab] OR Stigma*[tiab])

  3. 3.

    (“Surveys and Questionnaires”[Mesh] OR “Interviews as Topic”[Mesh] OR “Interview, Psychological”[Mesh] OR quantitative[tiab] OR Scale [tiab] OR scales[tiab] OR Questionnaire[tiab] OR Questionnaires [tiab] OR Survey [tiab] OR Surveys [tiab] OR Surveyed [tiab] OR interviews [tiab] OR interviewed [tiab] OR interview [tiab] OR measure[title] OR measured[title] OR measures[title] OR study[title])

CINAHL http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/9911

  1. 1.

    (MH “Homosexuals” OR MH “Homosexuals, Male” OR MH “Bisexuals” OR MH “GLBT Persons”) OR TI (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR AB (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    (MH “Prejudice” OR MH “Stigma” OR MH “Attitude to Sexuality” OR MH “Homophobia” OR MH “Violence” OR MH “Workplace Violence” OR MH “Scapegoating” OR MH “Discrimination”) OR (TI (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR Scapegoat* OR victim* OR stress) OR AB (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR Scapegoat* OR stress)

  3. 3.

    (MH “Surveys” OR MH “Interviews+” OR MH “Self Report” OR MH “Survey Research” OR MH “Attitude Measures” OR MH “Scales” OR MH “Questionnaires+”) OR TI(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative) OR AB(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative)

PsycINFO http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/8375

  1. 1.

    (DE “Same Sex Intercourse” OR DE “Bisexuality” OR DE “Sexual Orientation” OR DE “Male Homosexuality” OR DE “Homosexuality”) OR TI (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR AB (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    (DE “Prejudice” OR DE “Employment Discrimination” OR DE “Hate Crimes” OR DE “Stigma” OR DE “Sexual Attitudes” OR DE “Attitudes” OR DE “Homosexuality (Attitudes Toward)” OR DE “Violence” OR DE “Social Discrimination” OR DE “Discrimination” OR DE “Social Issues” OR DE “Oppression” OR DE “Stereotyped Attitudes”) OR TI (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress) OR AB (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress)

  3. 3.

    (DE “Measurement” OR DE “Attitude Measurement” OR DE “Attitude Measures” OR DE “Checklist (Testing)” OR DE “Coding Scheme” OR DE “Diary Measure” OR DE “Index (Testing)” OR DE “Individual Testing” OR DE “Inventories” OR DE “Multidimensional Scaling” OR DE “Needs Assessment” OR DE “Occupational Interest Measures” OR DE “Organizational and Occupational Measures” OR DE “Perceptual Measures” OR DE “Personality Measures” OR DE “Posttesting” OR DE “Preference Measures” OR DE “Pretesting” OR DE “Profiles (Measurement)” OR DE “Projective Testing Technique” OR DE “Psychological Assessment” OR DE “Psychometrics” OR DE “Q-Sort” OR DE “Questionnaires” OR DE “Rating Scales” OR DE “Screening” OR DE “Screening Tests” OR DE “Selection Tests” OR DE “Social and Interpersonal Measures” OR DE “Sociometric Tests” OR DE “Statistical Measurement” OR DE “Stress and Coping Measures” OR DE “Subtests” OR DE “Surveys” OR DE “Test Battery” OR DE “Testing” OR DE “Verbal Tests” OR DE “Vignette Measure”) OR TI(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative OR study) OR AB(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative)

LGBT Life http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/10121

  1. 1.

    (DE “HOMOSEXUALITY” OR DE “MALE homosexuality” OR DE “BISEXUALITY” OR DE “GAY men”) OR TI (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR AB (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    (DE “STIGMA (Social psychology)” OR DE “SHAME” OR DE “SOCIAL psychology” OR DE “STEREOTYPES (Social psychology)” OR DE “REJECTION (Psychology)” OR DE “SOCIAL acceptance” OR DE “DISCRIMINATION” OR DE “HOMOPHOBIA” OR DE “OPPRESSION (Psychology)” OR DE “ATTITUDES toward homosexuality”) OR TI (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress) OR AB (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress)

  3. 3.

    (DE “SURVEYS” OR DE “INTERVIEWS” OR DE “QUESTIONNAIRES” OR DE “QUANTITATIVE research”) OR TI(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative OR study) OR AB(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative)

Global Health http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/9591

  1. 1.

    (DE “homosexuality” OR DE “bisexuality”) OR TI (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR AB (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    (DE “social stigma” OR DE “discrimination” OR DE “racial discrimination” OR DE “sexual discrimination”) OR TI (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress) OR AB (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress)

  3. 3.

    (DE “measurement” OR DE “interviews” OR DE “data collection” OR DE “questionnaires” OR DE “sampling” OR DE “surveys” OR DE “quantitative analysis” OR DE “quantitative techniques” OR DE “interviews”) OR TI(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative OR study) OR AB(survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative)

Health and Psychosocial Instruments http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/10005

  1. 1.

    DE “Homosexuality Male” OR DE “Male Homosexuality” OR DE “Gay Men” OR DE “Bisexuality” OR TI (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR ME (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*) OR RC (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    DE “Discrimination” OR DE “Shame” OR DE “Social Discrimination” OR DE “Social Stigma” OR DE “Stigma” OR DE “Fairness” OR TI(Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress) OR ME(Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress) OR RC (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress)

Scopus http://www.lib.umich.edu/database/link/10049

  1. 1.

    (MSM OR “men who have sex with men” OR Homosexual* OR Bisexual* OR gay OR gays OR queer*)

  2. 2.

    (Stigma* OR Homophob* OR Prejudice* OR violent OR violence OR Scapegoat* OR Discrimination OR Discriminate* OR Stereotyp* OR Anti-Homosexuality OR antigay OR victim* OR stress)

  3. 3.

    (survey* OR interview* OR scale* OR Questionnaire* OR quantitative OR study)

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Freeland, R., Rogers, E., van Rooyen, H. et al. Measurements of Sexuality-Based Stigma among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (GBMSM) in Resource-Poor Settings: A Review. AIDS Behav 22, 1614–1638 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1975-3

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