TY - JOUR
T1 - Men who have sex with men experience low anxiety and few barriers to performing anal self or companion examinations
T2 - a qualitative study of the Prevent Anal Cancer Palpation Study
AU - Flores, Rey A.
AU - Wilkerson, J. Michael
AU - Travis, Andrew
AU - Almirol, Ellen
AU - Washington, De Juan
AU - Weaver, Lou
AU - Liebert, Cameron
AU - Chiao, Elizabeth
AU - Hazra, Aniruddha
AU - Nyitray, Alan G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - While rare in the larger population, anal cancer incidence is significantly higher in groups such as sexual minority men and people living with HIV. This qualitative analysis examined participants’ experiences and perceptions of barriers to anal self-examination and anal companion examination through interviews completed as a part of a larger clinical trial. Interviews were conducted online with participants (n = 131) within a week of their baseline appointment between January 2020 and October 2021. Content analysis denoted participants’ thoughts and perceptions about anal self-examination and anal companion examinations. Of the 131 cisgender men interviewed (mean age 49.9 years, SD 12.7), 92.4% identified as gay, 54.9% identified as white, 22.1% identified as Black, 19.9% identified as Latino, and 44.3% of participants were living with HIV. Participants did not report feelings of excessive anxiety when an abnormality was detected. However, three salient themes emerged as to why participants may not perform an anal self-examination or anal companion examination: (1) physical limitation(s), (2) potential sexualisation of the examination, and (3) level of comfort discussing anal health. Future work must continue to explore methods that not only decrease stigma surrounding anal health but also bolster feelings of accessibility to perform self and couple examinations.
AB - While rare in the larger population, anal cancer incidence is significantly higher in groups such as sexual minority men and people living with HIV. This qualitative analysis examined participants’ experiences and perceptions of barriers to anal self-examination and anal companion examination through interviews completed as a part of a larger clinical trial. Interviews were conducted online with participants (n = 131) within a week of their baseline appointment between January 2020 and October 2021. Content analysis denoted participants’ thoughts and perceptions about anal self-examination and anal companion examinations. Of the 131 cisgender men interviewed (mean age 49.9 years, SD 12.7), 92.4% identified as gay, 54.9% identified as white, 22.1% identified as Black, 19.9% identified as Latino, and 44.3% of participants were living with HIV. Participants did not report feelings of excessive anxiety when an abnormality was detected. However, three salient themes emerged as to why participants may not perform an anal self-examination or anal companion examination: (1) physical limitation(s), (2) potential sexualisation of the examination, and (3) level of comfort discussing anal health. Future work must continue to explore methods that not only decrease stigma surrounding anal health but also bolster feelings of accessibility to perform self and couple examinations.
KW - anal cancer
KW - human papillomavirus
KW - preventative cancer screening
KW - self-examinations
KW - SMM
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173789582&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85173789582&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2023.2263500
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2023.2263500
M3 - Article
C2 - 37812464
AN - SCOPUS:85173789582
SN - 1369-1058
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
ER -