RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Men who have sex with men in Great Britain: comparing methods and estimates from probability and convenience sample surveys
JF Sexually Transmitted Infections
JO Sex Transm Infect
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 455
OP 463
DO 10.1136/sextrans-2015-052389
VO 92
IS 6
A1 Philip Prah
A1 Ford Hickson
A1 Chris Bonell
A1 Lisa M McDaid
A1 Anne M Johnson
A1 Sonali Wayal
A1 Soazig Clifton
A1 Pam Sonnenberg
A1 Anthony Nardone
A1 Bob Erens
A1 Andrew J Copas
A1 Julie Riddell
A1 Peter Weatherburn
A1 Catherine H Mercer
YR 2016
UL http://sti.bmj.com/content/92/6/455.abstract
AB Objective To examine sociodemographic and behavioural differences between men who have sex with men (MSM) participating in recent UK convenience surveys and a national probability sample survey.Methods We compared 148 MSM aged 18–64 years interviewed for Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) undertaken in 2010–2012, with men in the same age range participating in contemporaneous convenience surveys of MSM: 15 500 British resident men in the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS); 797 in the London Gay Men's Sexual Health Survey; and 1234 in Scotland's Gay Men's Sexual Health Survey. Analyses compared men reporting at least one male sexual partner (past year) on similarly worded questions and multivariable analyses accounted for sociodemographic differences between the surveys.Results MSM in convenience surveys were younger and better educated than MSM in Natsal-3, and a larger proportion identified as gay (85%–95% vs 62%). Partner numbers were higher and same-sex anal sex more common in convenience surveys. Unprotected anal intercourse was more commonly reported in EMIS. Compared with Natsal-3, MSM in convenience surveys were more likely to report gonorrhoea diagnoses and HIV testing (both past year). Differences between the samples were reduced when restricting analysis to gay-identifying MSM.Conclusions National probability surveys better reflect the population of MSM but are limited by their smaller samples of MSM. Convenience surveys recruit larger samples of MSM but tend to over-represent MSM identifying as gay and reporting more sexual risk behaviours. Because both sampling strategies have strengths and weaknesses, methods are needed to triangulate data from probability and convenience surveys.