A Systematic Review of Sexual Dysfunction Measures for Gay Men: How Do Current Measures Measure Up?

The measurement of subjective components of sexual functioning is of increasing importance in clinical research and practice. Differences have been reported in prevalence rates and experiences of sexual difficulties between heterosexual and gay men. The aim of this article is to identify reliable and valid measures of sexual dysfunction suitable for use with gay men. Seven measures were reviewed; details about item development, dimensionality, reliability, and validity are provided. Heteronormative and heterosexist wording were evident throughout. Several areas of concern emerged in relation to psychometric properties (e.g., questionable validity). No psychometrically robust sexual function measure was identified for use with gay populations.     

Evaluation of changes to family income supplement

The work described in this paper was commissioned by the DHSS policy branch responsible for family benefits. The problem is rather more specific than those addressed by the studies described in the paper by Holdaway and Partridge. It does however parallel at least one of the observations made there. The study started out with a relatively broad brief but was constrained by events to concentrate on one particular problem, namely forecasting the cost and caseload of Family Income Supplement.     

The state of decision support systems: A review

Many organisations are now realising that information technology can make a significant contribution to their operations. Recent developments in decision support software are such that the time may have come when information technology will contribute significantly to managerial decision-making. This paper considers these developments alongside the organisational issues involved in decision-making, and the current position of IT in many mature organisations. The conclusion is that the new range of decision support software, whilst opening up further areas for computerised decision support, is unlikely to compete successfully for corporate IT funds. Use of the new tools will be restricted to small, isolated applications.     

Emotional Reactions of Heterosexual Men to Gay Imagery

Studies of homonegativity in the general population typically use scales to examine the attitudes of a heterosexual sample toward gay men and lesbian women. However, these scales fail to address that accepting gay and lesbian people in theory is not tantamount to accepting the sexual practices engaged in by gay and lesbian people. As a result, relying on homonegativity scales and hypothetical scenarios (i.e., asking a participant to imagine a gay man or lesbian woman from personality characteristics provided) may not offer a complete view of the complexities of homonegativity. To explore this possibility, 83 men self-identifying as either largely or exclusively heterosexual rated one of three groups of images (romantic gay, erotic gay, and control) on the basis of five questions related to their emotional responses. A psychometrically sound homonegativity scale was also completed. Results indicated that homonegativity was a significant predictor of decreased happiness, anger, disgust, task enjoyment, and reported liking of the imagery. Furthermore, homonegativity was found to moderate the association between exposure to the romantic images and four of the five emotional responses (happiness, anger, disgust, and liking). Exposure to the set of erotic gay images, however, was associated with negative emotional responses, regardless of participants’ self-reported level of homonegativity (i.e., overt homonegativity possessed less moderational power for this type of imagery). These findings suggest that standard scales of homonegative attitudes may be unable to capture the affective negativity that heterosexual men experience when viewing gay male intimacy.     

Effects of Employment-Based Programs on Families by Prior Levels of Disadvantage

This study examines how welfare and employment policies affect subpopulations of low-income families that have different levels of initial disadvantage. Education, prior earnings, and welfare receipt are used to measure disadvantage. The analysis of data from experiments suggests that employment-based programs have no effects on economic well-being among the least-disadvantaged low-income, single-parent families, but they have positive effects on employment and income for the most-disadvantaged and moderately disadvantaged families. These programs increase school achievement and enrollment in center-based child care of children only in moderately disadvantaged families. The most-disadvantaged families are found to increase use of child care that is not center based. Parents in these families experience depressive symptoms and aggravation. The findings raise questions about how to support families at the lowest end of the economic spectrum.     

Gay Men's Knowledge of HIV Transmission and ‘Safe’ Sex: A Question of Accuracy

The study described in this paper is part of a project assessing the impact of the HIV epidemic on 535 men who have sex with men. These men were surveyed about their knowledge of HIV, their sexual practices, other issues concerning the transmission of HIV, and AIDS. This paper focuses on these men's beliefs about HIV transmission, their perceptions of the safety of a number of sexual and social practices, and the factors influencing these perceptions. The findings indicate, in general, that the men surveyed were moderately well informed about HIV transmission. Some twenty percent of the men were well-informed about both ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ sexual practices, a small number were ill-informed and the remainder, the majority, were well-informed about some aspects and ill-informed about others. The data suggest that information from the mainstream and gay press is not only differentially available but that information is processed and interpreted by the men in different ways. Variables which influence the manner in which information is interpreted are place of residence (locale), awareness of gay community posters and pamphlets, and the men's sexual practice; these are associated with cautiousness or rashness in the men's judgments of safety and risk.