Safe-Sex Knowledge, Sexual Behavior, and Drug Use A thesis

Conclusion
While accuracy of safe-sex information is clearly an important factor in the
implementation of safe-sex behavior, the source itself can be a determining factor, as
well. Health care providers provide information that seems to be incorporated by MSMs
into their sexual behavior resulting in healthier sexual behavior. On the flip side, MSMs
who report “church” as a primary source of safe-sex information actually turn out to have
less healthy sexual behavior.
This tells us that, on average, MSMs seem to regard the information they get from
health care providers to be valid and actionable, that this source of information is one that
is having a positive impact on the overall sexual health of the MSM community. On the
other hand, church as a source of safe-sex information is having quite the opposite impact
on the MSM community. The mechanism for this impact is worthy of further
investigation and could range from inaccurate information distribution by this source to a
lack of credibility of the source among the information recipients in the MSM
community, or a combination of these and other factors. This could suggest that stronger
linkages between healthcare providers and church organizations that provide safe-sex
information to members (particularly MSM’s).
While perhaps not surprising that drug use (a loose proxy for risky behavior) is
negatively associated with healthier sexual behavior, it is surprising that among this
population older individuals are likely to be engaging a greater proportion of sexual
partners in sex without either discussion safe sex or practicing safe sex. Possible
explanations, that warrant further investigation, include the larger community
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