A Pilot Study Describing Knowledge and Practices in the Health Care of Men Who Have Sex With Men by U.S. Air Force Primary Care Providers

Abstract

The majority of USAF primary care providers surveyed were not familiar with CDC-recommended annual screening tests for STIs in MSM, and they did not screen for MSM activity or offer MSM STI screening tests regularly. Further studies across the Department of Defense are needed to corroborate the findings of this study.

Military Healthcare Providers' Knowledge and Comfort Regarding the Medical Care of Active Duty Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Patients

“…Primary care clinicians must know and feel confident to implement current recommendations for LGB patients such as the CDC recommendations for MSM screening tests among others. Although more respondents (53%) correctly identified the CDC STI screening recommendations for MSM in this study compared to the Tong et al study, 4 nearly half of the clinicians were still uninformed on this topic.…”

“…Current exposure to LGB patient care and demographics questions were modified from the Tong et al survey. 4 A free-text box was provided for respondents' general comments.…”

“…Health disparities for American LGB youth and adults are well documented 3 ; however, there are fewer data specific to LGB servicemembers. 4–6 Barriers to optimal healthcare for LGB individuals include stigma, discrimination, invisibility, and hesitancy to disclose their sexual behaviors to providers and others. 7–9 Providers may add to these barriers due to their discomfort in asking about sexual orientation and their lack of knowledge regarding health issues specific to LGB populations.…”

Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among US Air Force Health Care Providers

“…On a related topic of national STD treatment guidelines, 42% of USAF PCPs surveyed from 3 military treatment centers in California indicated they were unaware of CDC guidelines for annual STD screening among MSM. [30] Furthermore, more than a third reported lack of training in caring for MSM. A recent study in the US shows HIV prevention interventions targeted to high-risk populations, such as PrEP among MSM, is cost effective.…”

Centralized HIV Program Oversight

“… 24 – 26 The findings of a recent survey of military primary care providers suggest there may be significant gaps that must be addressed in knowledge and training among military providers in the culturally competent delivery of primary care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients. 27 This investigation identified a number of epidemiologic links to the social sexual networks among soldiers and their contacts in the community but the majority of interviews did not result in soldiers naming other soldiers as their contacts. This is not surprising because of nonparticipation in the investigation by a number of individuals with HIV sequences most closely related to other members of transmission clusters and the potential for nondisclosure because of stigma, fear of breaches in confidentiality, and/or unfavorable interviewer response.…”