Garrett Prestage
Biographic Data
| ID | 217273 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Garrett Prestage |
| GIVEN NAMES | Garrett |
| FAMILY NAME | Prestage |
| SIGNATURE | PRESTAGE G |
| AFFILIATIONS | UNSW Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3917-8992 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 105 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 105 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Psychosocial effects of stigma on community connectedness among gay Arab Australian men
Gay Arab Australian men navigate complex intersections of cultural, religious, and sexual identities, negotiating their place within both Arab and LGBTQ+ communities. Despite increasing visibility, little research has explored the psychosocial meanings of belonging, exclusion, and safety across these contexts. This study draws on intersectionality and Minority Stress theories to examine how overlapping stigmas shape community connectedness and ho…
Exploring experiences of talk therapies among gay and bisexual men seeking to reduce or abstain from using crystal methamphetamine in the context of chemsex
Moving from In-Person to Digital Delivery Models of HIV Peer Support Services in Response to Covid-19
COVID-19 saw a rapid shift in how community-based peer support programs were delivered. HIV peer support workers were required to work from home and community-based HIV and LGBTQ + organisations moved their support programs to digital platforms. Between May and September 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who worked (n = 17) or volunteered (n = 4) for community-based HIV and/or LGBTQ + health organisations. Interview…
Navigating intersecting identities and disclosure strategies
This study explored the intersecting identities and disclosure strategies of gay Arab Australian men, an under-researched subgroup within sexuality and ethnic minorities. Using an intersectionality framework and identity process theory, the study examines how overlapping identities - ethnicity, religion, and sexuality - shape their lived experiences. Semi-structured interviews with 11 men led to the development of two primary themes: negotiating …
The 'Informed Matter' of Gay and Bisexual Men's (Potential) Use of HIV Antiretrovirals to Prevent Covid-19
In 2020, there were reports that HIV antiretrovirals, specifically the combination tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC), had therapeutic potential for COVID-19. In the context of scant empirical evidence at the time to confirm such an effect, we sought to understand the ways that gay and bisexual men (GBM) made sense of-and embodied-information about HIV antiretrovirals in relation to preventing and/or treating COVID-19. We c…
Sexualised drug use among gay and bisexual men in New Zealand
Condom Failure Among HIV-Negative Men in Serodiscordant Relationships in Australia, Brazil, and Thailand
Condoms continue to be used by many gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. However this is impacted by condom failure events, defined here as condom breakage and slippage. In a prospective, observational cohort study of 343 HIV serodiscordant male couples recruited through high HIV caseload clinics and hospitals between 2012 and 2016 in Australia, Brazil, and Thailand, condom failure rates…
Agreements, Behaviour, and Change
Male HIV serodiscordant couples have diverse relationship agreements regarding sex outside the relationship. We examined the relationship agreements as described by 343 male HIV-negative partners in HIV serodiscordant relationships in Australia, Brazil and Thailand participating in a multi-year cohort study. At baseline, 125 (34.1%) HIV-negative partners reported no agreement, 115 (33.5%) had a monogamous agreement, and 103 (37.9%) had an open ag…
National Surveillance of Home-Based HIV Testing Among Australian Gay and Bisexual Men, 2018–2020
HIV self-testing allows people to collect samples and test themselves at home, addressing known barriers to facility-based testing. We aimed to measure the uptake of home HIV testing among Australian gay and bisexual men (GBM). Using national cross-sectional data from the Australian Gay Community Periodic Surveys, we assessed trends in home HIV testing among non-HIV positive GBM between 2018 and 2020. Overall, the use of home HIV testing was low,…
How to have sex in a pandemic
Although many studies reported on decreases in sexual partner numbers among gay and bisexual-identifying men in the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have explored COVID-19 risk-reduction strategies. Drawing on free-text responses in an online survey (from April to July 2020), we describe the ways in which men sought to minimise the risk of COVID-19 in sexual encounters. Partner selection was an important strategy, in particular,…
Experiences of, and motivations for, disclosing HIV to social and familial networks
For people living with HIV, decisions about when, how and who to tell about their HIV status can involve navigating complex social, legal and health domains. With a focus on disclosure to broader social and familial networks, we explored the experiences of, and motivations for, HIV (non-)disclosure among recently diagnosed people living with HIV in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 people diagnosed with HIV from 2016 on…
Perceptions of Covid-19 Vaccines
COVID-19 vaccination is particularly challenging among populations who have experienced discrimination in healthcare settings. This paper presents qualitative findings from in-depth interviews about COVID-19 vaccination conducted in Australia between October 2020 and November 2021. Data from four different studies are presented; each population has unique experiences of discrimination within the healthcare system: Aboriginal people; people who in…
Requesting HIV Results Be Conveyed in-Person
In some instances, conveying HIV diagnoses by phone may be more appropriate than recalling individuals to the clinic to deliver a positive HIV diagnosis in person
HIV Diagnosis as Both Biographical Disruption and Biographical Reinforcement
Despite the potential for HIV treatments to transform the health needs of people living with HIV, receiving a positive HIV diagnosis can be a difficult experience and feelings of shock, distress and concerns for the future are commonly reported. Drawing on Michael Bury's conceptualisation of 'biographical disruption', we utilised semi-structured interviews to explore experiences of HIV diagnoses among 34 people diagnosed with HIV between 2016 and…
Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake and Its Impacts in a Cohort of Gay and Bisexual Men in Australia
Successful use of biomedical forms of HIV risk-reduction may have predisposed many gay and bisexual men (GBM) to vaccination against COVID-19, which may, in turn, affect their sexual behavior. A total of 622 Australian GBM provided weekly data on COVID-19 vaccination history and sexual behaviour between 17 January 2021 and 22 June 2021. We identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination, and compare sexual behavior before and since vaccinat…
Adjusting Behavioural Surveillance and Assessing Disparities in the Impact of Covid-19 on Gay and Bisexual Men’s HIV-Related Behaviour in Australia
COVID-19 has disrupted sexual behaviour and access to health systems. We adapted regular HIV behavioural surveillance of gay and bisexual men (GBM) in Australia in response to COVID-19, assessed the impact on the profile of the sample, the participants' HIV-related behaviour, and whether COVID-19 may have accentuated existing disparities in the Australian HIV epidemic. Data collected from five states during July 2017-June 2021 were included (N = …
Covid-19 Testing in a Weekly Cohort Study of Gay and Bisexual Men
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) have developed community norms for regular HIV/STI testing. We investigated factors associated with self-reported COVID-19 testing in response to reported COVID-19 cases and public health restrictions. Participants responded to weekly cohort surveys between 10th May 2021 and 27th September 2021. We used the Andersen-Gill extensions to the Cox proportional hazards model for multivariable sur…
Reasons for not Using HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among Gay and Bisexual Men in Australia
Although approximately 31,000 Australian gay and bisexual men (GBM) are eligible for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), only 18,500 people currently use it, indicating a need to investigate why GBM do not use it. This article uses data from a national, online, observational study. It adopts a mixed-methods analysis to responses to survey questions asking about reasons Australian GBM were not using PrEP in 2018, according to their level of HIV r…
Playing at the edges, navigating sexual boundaries, and narrating sexual distress; Practices and perspectives of sexuality and gender diverse people who use GHB
Positive strategies to facilitate sexual communication prior to and throughout GHB sex should be reflected in health promotion and service level responses to promote affirmative and continuous consent among people who use GHB for sex. Education initiatives to help people engaged in SDU to recognise and respond to sexual violence if it occurs ought to be prioritised
Controlling for pleasure and risk
Participants' near-ubiquitous experience of GHB overdose highlights ongoing education needs around overdose prevention. Efforts must target people new to GHB use who appeared particularly susceptible to overdose. Inconsistencies in understandings around GHB overdose, the perceived severity of overdose and the differences between GHB and its precursors GBL and 1,4-BD, highlight potential focus areas of future education responses. Further research …
Relationship Between Sexual Behaviors with Non-committed Relationship Partners and Covid-19 Restrictions and Notification Rates
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13178-022-00733-8
Belonging, social connection and non‐clinical care
Effective HIV treatments have transformed the medical needs of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to a chronic condition. However, stigma, poorer mental health outcomes and social isolation remain significant challenges for many PLHIV. HIV peer support programs have assisted PLHIV in navigating the clinical, emotional and social aspects of living with HIV. We draw on semi-structured interviews with 26 recently diagnosed PLHIV in Australia to explore …
Changing Levels of Social Engagement with Gay Men Is Associated with HIV Related Outcomes and Behaviors
Changes to how gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) connect with each other and with their communities have implications for HIV prevention. Social engagement with gay men (defined as having friends who are gay men and spending time with them) has been associated with HIV related outcomes over time among Australian GBM. Using data collected in national, repeated, cross-sectional surveys of GBM between 1998 and 2020 ( N = 161,1…
Trust, Familiarity, Optimism, and Pleasure
Using social media as a platform to publicly disclose HIV status among people living with HIV
Disclosure of HIV status is usually considered a private encounter involving only a limited number of people at a time. Many people living with HIV are strategic about deciding in what contexts, using which approach, to whom, and to what extent they disclose HIV status. However, social media platforms provide opportunities for people to publicly disclose information about themselves to their networks. Utilising semi-structured interviews with peo…
Qualitative Findings on the Impact of Covid-19 Restrictions on Australian Gay and Bisexual Men
COVID-19 may threaten the already poor mental health outcomes of Australian gay and bisexual men and cut ties to important social/sexual networks and community. Qualitative research into the experiences of gay and bisexual men during COVID-19 regulations is currently sparse. We report on 489 responses to a qualitative free-text question asking Australian gay and bisexual men about the impacts of COVID-19 during April 2020. Issues pertinent to gay…
HIV Diagnosis as Both Biographical Disruption and Biographical Reinforcement
Despite the potential for HIV treatments to transform the health needs of people living with HIV, receiving a positive HIV diagnosis can be a difficult experience and feelings of shock, distress and concerns for the future are commonly reported. Drawing on Michael Bury's conceptualisation of 'biographical disruption', we utilised semi-structured interviews to explore experiences of HIV diagnoses among 34 people diagnosed with HIV between 2016 and…
Belonging, social connection and non‐clinical care
Effective HIV treatments have transformed the medical needs of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to a chronic condition. However, stigma, poorer mental health outcomes and social isolation remain significant challenges for many PLHIV. HIV peer support programs have assisted PLHIV in navigating the clinical, emotional and social aspects of living with HIV. We draw on semi-structured interviews with 26 recently diagnosed PLHIV in Australia to explore …
Using social media as a platform to publicly disclose HIV status among people living with HIV
Disclosure of HIV status is usually considered a private encounter involving only a limited number of people at a time. Many people living with HIV are strategic about deciding in what contexts, using which approach, to whom, and to what extent they disclose HIV status. However, social media platforms provide opportunities for people to publicly disclose information about themselves to their networks. Utilising semi-structured interviews with peo…
The 'normality' of living as a gay serodiscordant couple in Sydney, Australia
Serodiscordant couples are often understood through a discourse of HIV-risk or researched in terms of the psychological stressors they face. However, due to antiretroviral treatments people living with HIV can achieve undetectable viral loads, which not only make them non-infectious to partners, but allow them to think of their lives and relationships as safe and viable. These realisations mean that serodiscordant couples often embrace an HIV 'no…
Relationship Between Sexual Behaviors with Non-committed Relationship Partners and Covid-19 Restrictions and Notification Rates
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13178-022-00733-8
Cum Play” among Gay Men
The 'Informed Matter' of Gay and Bisexual Men's (Potential) Use of HIV Antiretrovirals to Prevent Covid-19
In 2020, there were reports that HIV antiretrovirals, specifically the combination tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC), had therapeutic potential for COVID-19. In the context of scant empirical evidence at the time to confirm such an effect, we sought to understand the ways that gay and bisexual men (GBM) made sense of-and embodied-information about HIV antiretrovirals in relation to preventing and/or treating COVID-19. We c…
Changing Levels of Social Engagement with Gay Men Is Associated with HIV Related Outcomes and Behaviors
Changes to how gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) connect with each other and with their communities have implications for HIV prevention. Social engagement with gay men (defined as having friends who are gay men and spending time with them) has been associated with HIV related outcomes over time among Australian GBM. Using data collected in national, repeated, cross-sectional surveys of GBM between 1998 and 2020 ( N = 161,1…
Sexual negotiation in the Aids era
OBJECTIVE: To test the safety of the 'negotiated safety' strategy-the strategy of dispensing with condoms within HIV-seronegative concordant regular sexual relationships under certain conditions. METHOD: Data from recently recruited cohort of homosexually active men (Sydney Men and Sexual Health cohort, n = 1037) are used to revisit negotiated safety. The men were surveyed using a structured questionnaire and questions addressing their sexual rel…
Factors associated with unprotected anal intercourse in gay men's casual partnerships in Sydney, Australia
We assessed the factors associated with unprotected anal intercourse in gay men's casual partnerships, using data from a longitudinal cohort study ongoing since October 1992. Participants were recruited through gay community and a variety of other sources and interviewed for the Sydney Men and Sexual Health study. Of 1,037 interviewees at outset, 834 men had casual partners during the six months prior to interview; 609 had any anal intercourse wi…
Cultures of sexual adventurism as markers of HIV seroconversion
A case control analysis within an ongoing cohort study was used to examine differences between seroconverters and men who remained HIV-negative. The cases were interviewed within one to 13 months prior to their seroconversion. Their responses to a structured questionnaire were compared with those of HIV-negative controls drawn from the same time period and from the same longitudinal study, Sydney Men and Sexual Health. Data collected from both ca…
A scale of optimism-scepticism in the context of HIV treatments
The aim of this research was to develop a brief scale of gay men's optimism-scepticism in the context of new HIV treatments. Following comprehensive literature search and communication with other researchers, 34 items about viral load testing, HIV therapies and concern about HIV infection were generated. By way of anonymous, self-complete questionnaires, these items were put to 532 gay men recruited at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair D…
Gay men's casual sex encounters
Some gay men disclose their HIV serostatus to enable them to decide to discard condoms in at least some casual encounters. In this paper we consider under what circumstances this occurs. We draw on data from the Sydney Men and Sexual Health cohort study, including both structured and semi-structured interviews. We find that casual sexual encounters among gay men are complex events, involving a broad range of types of partner and circumstance. A s…
Women in contact with Sydney's gay and lesbian community
Total rates are low, but sex with a man remains the main risk for HIV transmission to women in Australia. In February 1998, 774 women in contact with gay, bisexual and lesbian communities completed a two-page questionnaire. Almost all respondents had some social contact with gay men. Two-thirds (503) thought of themselves as lesbian/dyke/homosexual/gay, 13% (100) as bisexual and 17% (133) as heterosexual/straight. In total, 212 women (27%) said t…
In a minority of gay men, sexual risk practice indicates strategic positioning for perceived risk reduction rather than unbridled sex
The aim of this analysis was to examine gay men's sexual risk practice to determine patterns of risk management. Ten cross-sectional surveys of gay men were conducted six-monthly from February 1996 to August 2000 at Sydney gay community social, sex-on-premises and sexual health sites (average n = 827). Every February during this period, five identical surveys were conducted at the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day (average n = 1178). Amo…
In a minority of gay men, sexual risk practice indicates strategic positioning for perceived risk reduction rather than unbridled sex
Risk management and harm reduction among gay men in Sydney
Drawing on extensive behavioural data from Sydney, this paper examines some of the strategies that gay men have devised to manage (as distinct from eliminate) risk of HIV transmission. Apart from negotiated safety and positive-positive sex, which have been practised for some time, the evidence presented here confirms the role of a number of other harm-reduction strategies, some safer than others. The challenge now for educators, both locally and …
Contexts for last occasions of unprotected anal intercourse among HIV-negative gay men in Sydney
The objective of the paper was to compare encounters involving unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) and protected anal intercourse (PAI) among HIV-negative gay men in Sydney. Data were from those completing baseline face-to-face interviews to end June 2003 for the Health in Men open cohort of HIV-negative gay men in Sydney. The 1,148 participants ranged in age from 18 to 75 years (median = 36). Three hundred and fifty-two (30.7%) reported an occasi…
Trends and predictors of HIV-positive community attachment among PLWHA
Communities most affected by HIV/AIDS have been instrumental in shaping Australia's responses to the threat of the epidemic. There are recent signs that levels of engagement in communities based around HIV-positivity have changed: a diminished sense of an AIDS crisis, the relative success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and an increasing individualization of the HIV experience may be contributing to changes in the way HIV-communi…
HIV risk and communication between regular partners in a cohort of HIV-negative gay men
This paper reports on the breaking of agreements between regular partners among HIV-negative gay men in Sydney. Data were from the 1333 men completing face-to-face interviews through December 2003 for the Health in Men (HIM) open cohort of HIV-negative gay men in Sydney.822 men had a primary regular partner during the six month period before their 2003 interview. Most of these men had entered into agreements with their partners about sex either w…
Differences between men who report frequent, occasional or no unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners among a cohort of HIV-seronegative gay men in Sydney, Australia
Past research on unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners (UAIC) contrasts those who report no UAIC with any UAIC. This paper examines differences among three groups of men who had any UAIC on the basis of the number of UAIC acts reported in a six-month period, namely no UAIC (n = 507), occasional UAIC (1-5 acts, n = 251) and frequent UAIC (more than 5 acts, n = 148). The occasional UAIC group had values lying between those of the no- an…
Number of Risk Acts by Relationship Status and Partner Serostatus
Marijuana as therapy for people living with HIV/Aids
Therapeutic use of marijuana has emerged as an important issue for people living with cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. This paper examines therapeutic use of marijuana in the Positive Health cohort study, a longitudinal cohort study of men and women living with HIV/AIDS in NSW and Victoria, Australia. Factors that distinguish therapeutic use of marijuana from recreational use were assessed by comparisons on a range of social and health-re…
Differences between HIV-positive gay men who ‘frequently’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘never’ engage in unprotected anal intercourse with serononconcordant casual partners
By measuring the actual number of risk acts engaged in by HIV-positive men participating in the Positive Health (PH) cohort study, this paper sets out to document the distribution of risk acts, to report on the proportion of acts of unprotected anal intercourse with casual (UAIC) partners that occurred between HIV-positive men (i.e. seroconcordant positive) and to examine the factors that differentiated men who 'frequently' compared with 'sometim…
Sex work and risk behaviour among HIV-negative gay men
Gay men who engage in sex work may be at increased risk through risk behaviour outside the context of sex work. Among participants in the Health in Men (HIM) cohort of HIV-seronegative gay men in Sydney, 19.7% had ever engaged in sex work. Five percent reported being paid for sex in a six-month period during the study (2001-2006); a minority (18.3%) of these current sex workers reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with clients and 62.0% re…
Gay Men Who Engage in Group Sex are at Increased Risk of HIV Infection and Onward Transmission
Trends in Agreements Between Regular Partners Among Gay Men in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia
Increases in Unprotected Anal Intercourse with Serodiscordant Casual Partners Among HIV-Negative Gay Men in Sydney
Gay men's current practice of HIV seroconcordant unprotected anal intercourse
We explored seroguessing (serosorting based on the assumption of HIV seroconcordance) and casual unprotected anal intercourse (UAIC) associated with seroguessing. The ongoing Positive Health and Health in Men cohorts, Australia, provided data for trends in seroconcordant UAIC and HIV disclosure to sex partners. In event-level analyses, we used log-binomial regression adjusted for within-individual correlation and estimated prevalence rate ratios …
Does age affect sexual behaviour among gay men in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia
Concern internationally that young gay men are at increased risk of HIV infection has not been reflected in earlier findings in Australia where younger men have not been found to be at increased likelihood to engage in unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners (UAIC). There has, however, been little attention paid to the issue of age in relation to HIV risk behaviour in Australia in recent years. In 2007, among men who completed Gay Commu…
Use of Viral Load to Negotiate Condom Use Among Gay Men in Sydney, Australia
The discourse of gay men's group sex
Group sex has consistently been identified as one of a group of risk behaviours among gay men associated with HIV seroconversion. This paper presents a detailed description of how gender, and specifically masculinity, operates as an aspect of the discourse of gay men's group sex. The findings presented in this paper are one part of a multi-aspected discourse analysis through which we are aiming to develop an account of the discourse of gay men's …
Intensive sex partying amongst gay men in Sydney
Intensive sex partying is a framework developed to analyse specific frequent behaviours amongst a small minority of gay men in Sydney, Australia. The behaviours included a higher frequency of dance party attendance, more frequent sex, more anal sex, multiple sex partners, more unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners and more frequent drug taking. These occur at a contextual intersection between a sub-group of sexually adventurous gay me…
Medicine (95 works) · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (87 works) · Psychology (85 works) · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk (68 works) · Demography (62 works) · Family medicine (61 works) · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV (61 works) · Sociology (60 works) · Public health (53 works) · Men who have sex with men (52 works)