Gender differences in sexual risk behaviors among population with substance use disorders, Iran

ABSTRACT

Objective

We examined gender differences in Sexual Risk Behaviors (SRBs) in Iranian individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs).

Methods

A cross-sectional study conducted from late 2018 to the end of 2019 in Tehran province, Iran. Six outpatient drug-free (ODF) and methadone maintenance treatment program (MMTP) centers were selected. A total of 600 eligible participants (300 men; 300 women) were included in the study. Participants were investigated by trained interviewers using a questionnaire to collect information on SRBs. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24.

Results

Nearly 75% of participants (64% men and 84.3% women) reported at least one lifetime experience of SRBs. Men were 62% less likely than women to have SRBs. Also, 34.7% women and 3% men had reported sexual violence. Twenty-eight percent of women and 22% of men had a history of group sex. Sixty-nine women (23%) and 20 men (6.7%) reported having had sex with intravenous drug use (IDU) partner. During the past year, the majority of participants never consistently used condoms (83%) in their sexual encounters.

Conclusions

Iranian women with SUDs are more likely to be involved in SRBs than their men counterparts. The differences highlighted in this study should inform treatment centers to include “safer sex” interventions in their treatment programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual risk behaviors
• condoms
• substance abuse
• sexually transmitted infections
• gender

Acknowledgments

We specially thank the participants who shared their information with us. Dr Korte’s effort on this project was supported, in part, by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant Number UL1 TR001450. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Marriage is legalized by a contract which is called permanent marriage (nikah) versus temporary Marriage called Muta’, (Izdiwaj-i muwaqqat: mut’a-sigha) in Islamic Law (Sachiko Murata, 2021: Al-Islam.org).

2. In this study, sexual violence mainly refers to sexual coercion including binding, physical harm, and any form of non-consensual sexual contact.

3. Exp(B).

Additional information

Funding

This project was approved and funded by the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, (Ethic Approval Code: 92-01-55-19799).