The primary health care experiences of gay men in Australia

The present research, consisting of two studies, was designed to examine the primary health care experiences of gay men in Australia and assess doctors' attitudes and training with regard to gay men and their health care. In the first study, 195 gay men were surveyed regarding their health issues and their primary health care experiences. The most important health concerns of gay men were stress and depression followed by HIV/AIDS, body image disorder and other sexually transmissible infections. Including those participants who were unsure, approximately one-half reported experiencing homophobia and almost one quarter reported experiencing discrimination in the provision of health care. Despite this, respondents were generally satisfied with their primary health care, although respondents felt that all GPs should receive additional undergraduate medical education regarding gay men's health. In the second study, 25 doctors (13 gay specialists and 12 non-gay specialists) were surveyed regarding their knowledge of gay men's health and their comfort working with gay men. Non-gay specialist GPs were less comfortable treating gay men, reported poorer communication and were more homophobic than their gay specialist counterparts. Further, doctors perceived their medical education regarding gay men's health has been inadequate. Together, the results of the two current studies suggest that disclosure of sexuality is an important issue for both gay men and doctors, and has the potential to impact on the quality of health care that gay men receive. In order to improve the level of disclosure, the pervasiveness of homophobia and discrimination in primary health care must be reduced. Finally, the results indicate that medical education must be updated to reflect current knowledge regarding the health issues of gay men. Failure to address these issues will condemn gay men to continued health inequality.