PSU Magazine Fall 1993

lives, men will occasionally leave them in the nightstand drawer imply because they are a hassle o r they can break the mood. What help the most, O'Bri en fo und, is the combination of peer pres– sure and being emotionally supported. Peer pressure-the message that you really should use condoms-is the stronger of the two, but a man will feel more compelled to play it safe if, at the same time, he feels loved and wanted. Which leads to another finding from the study: gay men who were part of a couple were less anxi ous and more sa tisfied with their lives than men who were unattached. Having one close partner can be a safeguard aga inst HIV as long as both partners continue to fo l– low safer sex guidelines. But it's also an emotional safeguard. It gives a sense of security in a world in which friend and fo rmer partners are dying from AIDS. And it provides the emotional suppo rt that people need in o rder to change o ld , un afe behaviors into hea lthy ones. Thi is a unusual aspect of O'Brien's tudy: while most other psychological re earch on gay and bisexual men and Associate Professor Kerth O'Brien 12 PSU Magazine AIDS look at either behavior (practic– ing safer sex) or mental hea lth, O'Bri en's study looks at both. The National Institute of Mental Hea lth has been her bigge t funding source through the years, fo llowed by the Med ica l Research Foundation of O regon and PSU . But one of her most pivotal co llaborations during the course of the tud y has been with th e Cascade AIDS Proj ect (CAP), a non– profit organiza tion providing services to persons with AIDS and HIV infec– tion, and educational programs aimed at persons at risk. It's been a symb iotic relationship, according to CAP's Executive Director, Mica Smith . "Her re earch made us realize we had to do something different (in our educational efforts)," he says. "It showed that many people were till not practicing safe r sex, or were relaps ing." CAP's response was to begin o rganiz– ing support group "home parties" in which participants are asked to bring friend and acq uaintances as a way to spread the word. In the home parties, men rece ive information about safer sex in the company of their peers. That pee r group setting, O'Brien points out, has a powerful effect in changing behavio r. Promoting a po itive mental outlook is crucial in helping men avoid HIV infection, says Graham Harriman , Wellness Program Coordinator fo r CAP. But that effort can be an uphill push in light of the fac t that one in five gay men in Po rtland is HIV positive. 'That number is astounding to people," he says. Faced with the odds of los ing a partner or a friend or becoming infected oneself, many gay men feel the disease is out of their control, so they don 't bother with condoms. "These are people who have had many losses to this disease. It's a constant challenge to process those losses and grieve and still be able to take care of yourself. It's an incredible challenge," he says. Harriman's task is to counterbalance the hopelessness with condom giveaways, with st ickers that have the message "Be Here For the C ure," and with workshops that encourage men to ta lk about their sexual behav io r. Leona rd James, a CAP outreach spec ialist who also holds workshops ·ays, "it's amazing what little talking people do about it, considering that sex is something everybody is obsessed with." His workshops help men open up to a surprising degree. He recalls one couple who, at a work hop, both dis– cove red that their relat ion hip wa not as monogamous as each partner had thought, and that both had been negligent about using condoms with other people. It wasn't until that moment th at they faced up to the problem and committed themse lves to a safer relat ionship. O'Brien has conducted open forums and pre entati ons at CAP, and CAP has provided a fertile base fo r her research. At the same time, her stud y has helped CAP obtain a five-year research grant that will help th organization do a better job of educa– tion. And more education is till needed in two groups revea led by O'Brien 's study: young men and men with poss ible drinking problems. Gay and bisexual men over 35 have gotten the message to play it safe, and for them it has become the social no rm, according to O'Brien. But younger men tend to think AIDS won't happen to them, so they take fewer precautions. It's a mentality that fits well with what psychologists know of young people in general: that they are willing to take greater risks and not think about the consequences-one of the reasons AIDS is the third largest killer of young people in American soc iety. The fac t came a little surprise to O'Brien. "We have ome special things about the gay community, but it is a com– munity of people in which you will see the patterns of a larger ociety reflected." Those same "larger oc iety" patterns helped explain the other big risk group: men with drinking problems. Gay and bisexual men who don't abuse alcohol were more likely to face their problems-including the threat of AID - in a constructive way,