Your experiences, your thoughts, your voice: An annual health survey for gay and bisexual men is now open
Stigma and discrimination negatively affect gay and bisexual men’s health.
Sexual minority health researchers at Emory University want you to join the 10,000 men across the United States who take the American Men’s Internet Survey (AMIS) every year.
Over the past six years, AMIS has become the largest annual survey to collect data about gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in the United States. You can join by taking the survey here.
The AMIS survey is designed and distributed by Emory University researchers in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.
It is an online survey that collects information related to the health of sexual minority men. The survey is completely confidential and should only take about 20 minutes to complete.
Topics surveyed include HIV and STI testing, PrEP interest and use, dating apps, and mental health. It first launched in 2013 and hasn’t missed a year since.
Your answers will ensure that AMIS gathers responses from a diverse range of lived experiences. Data has previously been used to explore trends in substance use and HIV/STI testing, HPV vaccination, food insecurity and more.
Your input can help improve health services used by your community.
Recently, AMIS has taken steps to understand how stigma and discrimination plays a role in sexual health.
Despite immense progress in legal and social equality for LGBT persons made in past decades, members of the community still face harassment, exclusion and even violence.
These experiences are not only traumatic for those who go through them but actually hinder efforts to eradicate HIV and STIs.
AMIS is exploring sexual identity stigma across multiple dimensions: perceived, anticipated and experienced. The survey asks about stigma from different sources, including family and friends, employers and healthcare providers.
By asking these questions, researchers can understand the impact stigma plays in people’s lives, relationships, and behaviours.
The project is also looking at how experiences of stigma affect levels of stress in the body, and how this stress is related to HIV and STI health outcomes.
Anonymous survey data is provided to public health departments and other organisations to increase awareness about your experiences.
For example, AMIS data was used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess whether patients would be willing to use self-tests for STIs.
This data is crucial for providing evidence needed to develop local and state policies. The information also helps health organisations better understand the needs of the LGBT community in order to design appropriate and relevant health programs and campaigns.
Everyone’s experiences are unique. Your perspective matters.
Providing your input can help improve health services you and your community utilise.
