Interpersonal violence victimisation, HIV-related behaviours and STIs among adult, urban Indigenous and non-Indigenous gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Guatemala

Abstract

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV in Guatemala; interpersonal violence may increase behaviours that augment the risk of HIV in this group. Although 44% of Guatemalans identify as Indigenous, little information exists on the experiences of Indigenous sexual minority individuals. In this study, we sought to compare different forms of violence and HIV-related behaviours by Indigenous identity among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men; and determine if associations between violence and HIV-related behaviours differed by Indigenous identity. We used cross-sectional survey data from 716 Spanish-speaking, adult men recruited from urban centres to examine the prevalence of and relationship between different forms of interpersonal violence and HIV-related behaviours using logistic regression analyses, including the moderating effect of Indigenous identity. In general, fewer Indigenous participants reported interpersonal violence victimisation and HIV-related behaviours compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. In weighted multivariable analyses, non-Indigenous participants who reported physical and/or sexual violence were over five times as likely to report transactional sex (OR = 5.17, 95% CI 2.11–12.68, p < 0.001), but the relationship was not significant for Indigenous participants. Findings suggest that Indigenous sexual minority men have unique contexts and that additional strengths-based research is needed to ensure that actions and efforts to promote violence and HIV prevention meet their needs.

Keywords:

• MSM
• Maya
• HIV risk
• SGM health

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Acknowledgements

We thank participants for sharing their experiences and taking part in this study.

Additional information

Funding

The parent study was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) under the Combination Prevention Program for HIV in Central America (Cooperative Agreement No. AID-596-A-10-00001). DD was supported by the UNC HIV/STI T32 Training Program (NIH grant # T32 AI 007001), the NIH Fogarty International Center under Award Number D43TW009343 and the University of California Global Health Institute during the writing of this manuscript. The findings and conclusions here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funding agencies.