From the Department of Infectious Diseases, Public Health Service of Amsterdam.
Sex Transm Dis. 2022 Jul 1;49(7):497-503. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001636. Epub 2022 Apr 9.
Between March 15 and May 31, 2020, the Dutch government imposed lockdown and health measures to curb the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As part of social distancing, sexual distancing was one of these measures. Sexual distancing implied refraining from sex with partners outside of one's household. We aimed to elucidate barriers and motives for complying with sexual distancing and related factors that could have led to (non)compliance among men who have sex with men.
In this exploratory qualitative study, we interviewed men who have sex with men who visited the center for sexual health in Amsterdam during the first COVID-19 lockdown using a semistructured interview guide from March to May 2020. We interviewed both men who complied and did not comply with sexual distancing. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using an open-coding process in MAXQDA.
We included 18 noncompliers and 4 compliers to COVID-19 sexual distancing. Barriers to compliance were the following: lack of information on, or understanding of, the need for sexual distancing; being single; having had an active sex life before COVID-19; a high perceived importance of the social aspect of sex; a strong urge for sex; using sex to cope with the negative impact of the pandemic; being under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and not perceiving COVID-19 as a serious health threat. Motives for compliance were the following: perceiving COVID-19 as a serious health threat, direct confrontation with critically ill COVID-19 patients, protecting someone dear from COVID-19, and being convinced of the importance of social and/or sexual distancing measures.
Information on sexual distancing needs to be made more explicit, accessible, understandable, inclusive, customized to individual barriers, and relatable to the key populations. This may improve the effectiveness of measures and health recommendations in both the current COVID-19 pandemic and future respiratory outbreaks.
2020 年 3 月 15 日至 5 月 31 日，荷兰政府实施封锁和卫生措施以遏制 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行。作为社交距离措施的一部分，性隔离是其中之一。性隔离意味着避免与家庭以外的伴侣发生性关系。我们旨在阐明遵守性隔离的障碍和动机，以及可能导致男男性行为者（MSM）遵守或不遵守性隔离的相关因素。
在这项探索性定性研究中，我们使用 2020 年 3 月至 5 月期间从阿姆斯特丹性健康中心就诊的 MSM 半结构化访谈指南，对在第一次 COVID-19 封锁期间接受采访的 MSM 进行了采访。我们采访了遵守和不遵守性隔离的 MSM。采访记录逐字转录，并在 MAXQDA 中使用开放式编码过程进行分析。
我们纳入了 18 名不遵守 COVID-19 性隔离的人和 4 名遵守者。不遵守的障碍如下：缺乏对性隔离必要性的信息或理解；单身；在 COVID-19 之前有活跃的性生活；对性的社会方面的高度重视；强烈的性冲动；用性来应对大流行的负面影响；受酒精或毒品的影响；以及不认为 COVID-19 是严重的健康威胁。遵守的动机如下：认为 COVID-19 是严重的健康威胁，直接面对重症 COVID-19 患者，保护亲人免受 COVID-19 的侵害，以及确信社会和/或性隔离措施的重要性。
需要更明确、更易于访问、更易于理解、更具包容性、针对个体障碍进行定制、并与关键人群相关的性隔离信息。这可能会提高当前 COVID-19 大流行和未来呼吸道暴发期间措施和健康建议的有效性。
