DOCSLIB.ORG

The Effects of Participation in Ayahuasca Rituals

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Effects of Participation in Ayahuasca Rituals ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info THE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION IN AYAHUASCA RITUALS ON GAYS’ AND LESBIANS’ SELF PERCEPTION A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of John F. Kennedy Graduate School of Professional Psychology in Pleasant Hill, California in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Psychology By Clancy Cavnar MAY 1, 2011 ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info THE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION IN AYAHUASCA RITUALS ON GAYS’ AND LESBIANS’ SELF PERCEPTION This dissertation by Clancy Cavnar has been approved by the committee members, who recommend that it be accepted by the faculty of John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, California, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY ________________________________________________________ Peter Van Oot, PhD, Chair ________________________________________________________ Stephen Trichter, PsyD, Reader ________________________________________________________ Date ii ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info © 2011 by Clancy Cavnar All Rights Reserved iii ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION IN AYAHUASCA RITUALS ON GAYS’ AND LESBIANS’ SELF PERCEPTION CLANCY CAVNAR John F. Kennedy University College of Graduate and Professional Studies Pleasant Hill, CA The practice of drinking the psychoactive drink ayahuasca has been shown in several studies to have positive long-term effects on mental states, and several studies have suggested it has a particularly strong positive effect on perceptions of identity. This research sought to discover if and in what way, these previous findings would be seen in gay people, who are often taught by their culture and religion that their lifestyles, values and sexual orientation are unacceptable. This qualitative study examined the interview responses of 17 gay and lesbian- identified participants who had used ayahuasca in a group in the past three years regarding their self-perceptions. The results indicated that all participants reported positive effects on their lives from ayahuasca rituals, including affirmation of their sexual orientation, and no participants reported negative effects on perception of identity. KEYWORDS: Identity, Hallucinogenic drugs, Homosexuality, Religious practices iv ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Randy Barbato and Bia Labate. v ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey, World of Wonder, and Chris Wereski for their help with this project. Thanks to my friends for their support, especially Anne Veraldi, Raffaele Trudu, Ralph Trueblood, and Suzanne Manley. Thanks to the Santo Daime church, and thanks to all the participants in this research who responded and kindly allowed me to take their time with the interview. Thanks to Dr. Beatriz Labate, and my reader Dr. Stephen Trichter for their perspectives and advice. vi ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info Table of Contents Page Dedication........................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................. vi I. Introduction.................................................................................................... 1 II. Review of the Literature................................................................................ 7 New Research on Psychedelics .................................................................. 7 The “Discovery” of Ayahuasca................................................................ 10 Research on the Chemistry and Effects of Ayahuasca .............................. 13 Ayahuasca, Entheogens, Spirituality and Religion ................................... 19 Empirical Investigation on Entheogens and Spirituality ........................... 21 Speculation on Entheogens and the Origin of Religion............................. 23 Neurochemistry and Psychedelic Spirituality ........................................... 24 Ayahuasca Religious Practices Today...................................................... 26 Shamanistic Use of Ayahuasca ................................................................ 30 Psychedelics and Sexual Minorities ......................................................... 35 Personal Narratives.................................................................................. 39 Homosexuality and Religion.................................................................... 41 III. Method....................................................................................................... 48 Content Analysis ..................................................................................... 48 Assumptions, Limitations and Considerations.......................................... 49 The Process of Analysis........................................................................... 50 vii ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info Participants.............................................................................................. 50 Recruitment............................................................................................. 54 Data Collection and Analysis................................................................... 54 Timeline to Completion ........................................................................... 55 IV. Results ........................................................................................................ 56 Responses A: Effect on Identity in General.............................................. 56 Responses B: Effect on Identity Regarding Sexual Orientation ................ 57 Responses C: Effect on Sexuality in General............................................ 59 Responses D: Comfort with Group Members........................................... 61 Responses E: Comfort with Beliefs about Homosexuality........................ 62 Responses F: Effect on Spirituality .......................................................... 65 Responses G: Effect of Ayahuasca Ritual on “Life”................................. 66 Responses H: Aspects Causing Discomfort.............................................. 68 Responses I: Perception of Externally Appreciable Change ..................... 70 Responses J: Changes in Future Use ........................................................ 70 Summary of Results................................................................................. 72 V. Discussion ................................................................................................... 74 Clinical Implications................................................................................ 81 Implications for Public Policy.................................................................. 87 Suggestions for Future Research.............................................................. 88 References......................................................................................................... 90 Appendix A: Consent to Participate................................................................. 110 Appendix B: Demographic Questionnaire........................................................ 113 viii ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info Appendix C: Participant Recruitment .............................................................. 116 Appendix E: Demographics Chart ................................................................... 122 ix ______________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info 1 Chapter I Introduction The use of ayahuasca (eye-ah-WAS-ka) for personal exploration, physical and emotional healing, and religious practice has grown recently both in the United States and worldwide, expanding from its traditional roots in South America to become a global phenomenon (Luna, 2003). Currently, thousands of people drink ayahuasca throughout the world, either as ayahuasca tourists in South America, as adherents of the two international ayahuasca churches, Santo Daime and União de Vegetal, or their numerous local offshoots and variations. People also drink the beverage in more esoteric groups and smaller circles interested in self-knowledge and personal exploration, or as practitioners in who work with shamans who travel to their countries (Metzner, 1999). The name “ayahuasca” is a Quechua term for “vine of the soul.” It has many other names, including “yage,” “hoasca,” “caapi” and “pinde” (Shultes, 1992). It is said to provide “telepathy” to its users, to heal physical and psychological wounds, and to grant religious visions. The experiences of people who drink ayahuasca are often life changing, and have been said to include cures for drug addiction (Mabit, 1996; Labate, Guimarães dos Santos, Anderson, Mercante, & Barbosa, 2010) and
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Submission No 33 INQUIRY INTO GAY and TRANSGENDER HATE
    Submission No 33 INQUIRY INTO GAY AND TRANSGENDER HATE CRIMES BETWEEN 1970 AND 2010 Organisation: NSW Beat Project Date Received: 23 November 2018 Inquiry into Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010 ____________________________________________________________ Thank you for the opportunity to make this submission to the Inquiry into Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010. We would appreciate the opportunity to give evidence to the Inquiry. The NSW Beat Project is a peer-based community network that was initiated in 2008 in response to an alarming increase in police activity and harassment at beats across NSW, and the failure by NSW Police and ACON Anti-Violence Project – as members of the NSW Government Interagency “Beats Working Group”, to address homophobic violence and ensure the safety of the beat community. Based on numerous reports of police harassment and our work with the beat community, this submission will aim to raise several issues regarding “current policy and practice” and continuing “impediments within the criminal justice system that impacted the protection of LGBTIQ people in NSW, and the delivery of justice to victims of LGBTIQ hate crimes”. The attached ‘case study’ of homophobic violence at ‘Croudace Bay Park’ between 2011 to 2014 highlights the underlying impediment faced by the beat community – the negative attitude of police officers and deeply entrenched homophobia within NSW Police, and demonstrates the total disregard for the safety and well being of beat users which has resulted in deep mistrust in NSW Police, reluctance to report homophobic violence, and fear of retribution from police and bashers. Unfortunately, it is not difficult to draw comparisons between these experiences and those faced by men who were bashed and murdered between 1970 and 2010.
    [Show full text]
  • Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights by Scott De Orio A
    Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights by Scott De Orio A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History and Women’s Studies) in The University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Matthew D. Lassiter, Chair Professor David M. Halperin Professor William J. Novak Associate Professor Gayle S. Rubin Scott De Orio [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4631-6241 © Scott De Orio 2017 To my parents ii Acknowledgments Support from several institutions and fellowships made it possible for me to complete this project. At the University of Michigan, the Department of History, the Department of Women’s Studies, the Rackham Graduate School, and the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies funded the research and writing of my dissertation and provided me with the ideal intellectual culture in which to do that work. Elizabeth Wingrove got me thinking about gender as a category of analysis in the Community of Scholars seminar that she directed at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Fellowships from Cornell University’s Human Sexuality Collection, Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, and the U-M Department of History funded archival research for the project. While I was in the revision stage, Mitra Shirafi and the Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History exploded my thinking about the law and politics in ways that I’m just beginning to process. When I was in high school, my favorite English teacher Deanna Johnson introduced me to the art of analyzing pop culture, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
    [Show full text]
  • Fighting Injustice
    Fighting Injustice by Michael E. Tigar Copyright © 2001 by Michael E. Tigar All rights reserved CONTENTS Introduction 000 Prologue It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This 000 Chapter 1 The Sense of Injustice 000 Chapter 2 What Law School Was About 000 Chapter 3 Washington – Unemployment Compensation 000 Chapter 4 Civil Wrongs 000 Chapter 5 Divisive War -- Prelude 000 Chapter 6 Divisive War – Draft Board Days and Nights 000 Chapter 7 Military Justice Is to Justice . 000 Chapter 8 Chicago Blues 000 Chapter 9 Like A Bird On A Wire 000 Chapter 10 By Any Means Necessary 000 Chapter 11 Speech Plus 000 Chapter 12 Death – And That’s Final 000 Chapter 13 Politics – Not As Usual 000 Chapter 14 Looking Forward -- Changing Direction 000 Appendix Chronology 000 Afterword 000 SENSING INJUSTICE, DRAFT OF 7/11/13, PAGE 2 Introduction This is a memoir of sorts. So I had best make one thing clear. I am going to recount events differently than you may remember them. I will reach into the stream of memory and pull out this or that pebble that has been cast there by my fate. The pebbles when cast may have had jagged edges, now worn away by the stream. So I tell it as memory permits, and maybe not entirely as it was. This could be called lying, but more charitably it is simply what life gives to each of us as our memories of events are shaped in ways that give us smiles and help us to go on. I do not have transcripts of all the cases in the book, so I recall them as well as I can.
    [Show full text]
  • Florida State University Libraries
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 Little Death: Locating the Motivations of Bug Chasers Through Interview, Analysis, and Creative Work Joshua L. Potter Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION LITTLE DEATH: LOCATING THE MOTIVATIONS OF BUG CHASERS THROUGH INTERVIEW, ANALYSIS, AND CREATIVE WORK By JOSHUA L. POTTER A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2009 The members of the committee approve the thesis of Joshua L. Potter defended on July 8, 2009. ___________________________________________ Donna Marie Nudd Professor Directing Thesis ___________________________________________ Gary R. Heald Committee Member ___________________________________________ Jeanette Castillo Committee Member ___________________________________________ Bruce Henderson Committee Member ___________________________________________ Carrie Sandahl Committee Member Approved: ___________________________________________ Stephen D. McDowell, Director, School of Communication ___________________________________________ Lawrence Dennis, Dean, College of Communication and Information The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my thanks to my thesis committee, Dr. Donna Marie Nudd, Dr. Gary Heald, Dr. Jeanette Castillo, Dr. Bruce Henderson, and Dr. Carrie Sandahl. Thank you all for the input, drafts, and meetings through out this process. I would especially like to thank Donna Marie Nudd for helping me become a better writer, critical thinker, teacher, and most of all a better performer. I could not ask for a better mentor over the last two years. I would also like to recognize Bruce Henderson who has been a mentor and a friend for the last five years.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Radical Dissents of Justice Scalia and Other (Post-) Queers – [Raising Questions About Lawrence, Sex Wars, and the Criminal Law]
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2004 "You Are Entering a Gay and Lesbian Free Zone": On the Radical Dissents of Justice Scalia and Other (Post-) Queers – [Raising Questions about Lawrence, Sex Wars, and the Criminal Law] Bernard Harcourt Columbia Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, and the Sexuality and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Bernard Harcourt, "You Are Entering a Gay and Lesbian Free Zone": On the Radical Dissents of Justice Scalia and Other (Post-) Queers – [Raising Questions about Lawrence, Sex Wars, and the Criminal Law], 94 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 503 (2004). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/646 This Foreword is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 0091-4169/0419403-0503 THEJOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 94, No. 3 Copyright 0 2004 by NorthwesternUniversity, School of Law Pnred i U.S.A. SUPREME COURT REVIEW FOREWORD: "YOU ARE ENTERING A GAY AND LESBIAN FREE ZONE"': ON THE RADICAL DISSENTS OF JUSTICE SCALIA AND OTHER (POST-) QUEERS. [RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT LAWRENCE, SEX WARS, AND THE CRIMINAL LAW] BERNARD E. HARCOURT* The most renowned substantive criminal law decision of the October 2002 Term, Lawrence v. Texas,2 will go down in history as a critical turning point in criminal law debates over the proper scope of the penal sanction.
    [Show full text]
  • Oklahoma City University Law Review [Vol
    OCULREV Fall 2013 Potts pp 433--463 (Do Not Delete) 1/23/2014 9:19 AM A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: OKLAHOMA’S TRANSMISSION STATUTE AND THE LACK OF PROSECUTIONS FOR INTENTIONAL HIV TRANSMISSIONS AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL MALES Sara Potts* I. INTRODUCTION Laws that criminalize the intentional transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) should be drafted, implemented, and executed in accordance with accepted criminal-law theory. Title 21, § 1192.1, Oklahoma’s HIV-transmission criminalization statute,1 and the HIV-transmission laws of other states, should not be scrutinized differently than other criminal laws that proscribe an intentional act. Application of any criminal law should occur even-handedly; those who commit the same illegal acts should be punished in the same manner regardless of gender, race, or sexual preference. According to criminal law principles, the Transmission Statute should target those who are most likely to be transgressors and protect those most likely to be victims. In both categories (transgressors and victims), studies show that homosexual males make up the largest category of HIV transmissions; thus, they are the sector of the population most influenced by the Transmission Statute. However, the lack of homosexual prosecutions in Oklahoma, while not immediately insidious, seems to indicate that the law has been used as a subtle moral statement. Rather than protect potential victims and deter those who intend to do harm, the Transmission Statute arguably demonstrates apathy toward homosexuals * J.D. expected May 2014. The Author would like to thank Professor LeFrancois, her family, and most of all, her husband, Mike Potts, who has been and continues to be so supportive.
    [Show full text]
  • 27. the Legal–Conceptual Blurring of Male Sex Work and Male Homosexuality and the Gendered, (Hetero)Sexist Approach to Sex Work Thomas Crofts
    27. The legal–conceptual blurring of male sex work and male homosexuality and the gendered, (hetero)sexist approach to sex work Thomas Crofts 1. INTRODUCTION There is a long history of a gendered and (hetero)sexist approach to sex work in legal, aca- demic and policy discussion.1 Male sex work and homosexuality have traditionally not been regulated as distinct issues in the same way as female sex work and sexuality. Despite wide differences in ideological positions on how the law should respond to sex work, sex work is mainly seen as something done by women for male clients. The fact that sex work may be performed by men largely does not feature in discussion about how the law has regulated sex work,2 nor does it feature in discussion of models for regulating sex work. When men do appear in discourse about sex work it is generally as clients of female workers or as ‘pimps’, controllers or traffickers of female workers – not as workers themselves. This chapter explores the historical reasons for this differential treatment of male sex work and the gendered and (hetero)sexist stance on sex work. In contrast to female sex work, where traditionally female workers were seen as deviant and subject to criminal laws but their male clients were not,3 with male sex work both the worker and the client were seen as deviant,4 and as subject to criminal laws. This is because historically, male sex work and male homosexuality were conceptually and legally not seen as distinct issues; men who sought sex with other men were seen as deviant and criminalised whether or not this amounted to sex work.
    [Show full text]
  • William Way LGBT Community Center Periodicals Collection, 1940-Present : Ms.Coll.37
    William Way LGBT Community Center periodicals collection, 1940-Present : Ms.Coll.37 Finding aid prepared by John F. Anderies, based on Periodical Holdings index created by Bob Skiba, and appended by George C. Dube. on 2015 PDF produced on July 17, 2019 John J. Wilcox, Jr. LGBT Archives, William Way LGBT Community Center 1315 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 [email protected] William Way LGBT Community Center periodicals collection, 1940-Present : Ms.Coll.37 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 4 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 4 # ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 A ..................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating 15 Years and Provide Insightful Opinions
    May 12, 2017 | Volume XV, Issue 1 scores of volunteer reporters and columnist, as a paramount responsibility. We endeavor without whose generosity of time and commit- to hold the wider community accountable on ment, we would not be able to cover the news critical issues such as homophobic and trans- Celebrating 15 Years and provide insightful opinions. On this 15th an- phobic violence, school bullying, police harass- Anniversaries offer an opportunity to reflect, responsibility for the Center under dire circum- niversary we want to make special mention of ment, and discrimination in all its forms. We take stock, and celebrate. This year is one of stances, Jabari and the board made the bold Steve Charing (writer, columnist, and former ed- also provide a forum for lively debate on issues those milestone anniversaries for Baltimore moves that we believe will strengthen both the itor), Chuck Duncan (movie reviews), and Greg percolating in sexual minority communities. OUTloud. On May 16th we cel- Center and this newspaper. Last Shapiro (celebrity interviews and reviews), who However, we have a wider focus. In our ebrate our 15th year publishing year, the Center accepted the offer were with us from day one and remain contrib- second issue, published May 30th, 2003, we We salute Trump to as an independent voice for Bal- of Pride Media to buy the Center’s utors. We also want to give a particular thank announced our commitment to sexual libera- queers: our writers, newspaper in exchange for a com- you to Associate Editor Mary Taylor who started tion, our belief that as LGBTQ people we are timore’s LGBT communities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Violations of Human Rights on the Basis Of
    THE VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE BASIS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER OF HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS A SHADOW REPORT In Response to the PERIODIC REPORT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Presented at the 50th Ordinary Session of the Commission in October/November 2011 Prepared by African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR) Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights House of Rainbow (HoR) Initiative for Improved Health (IFIH) International Centre for Advocacy on the Right to Health (ICARH) International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE) Legal Defense and Assistance Project (LEDAP) Initiative for Improved Male Health (IIMH) Pure Professionals Advocates (PP) Queer African Youth Networking Center (QAYN) Queer Alliance Nigeria (QAN) Social Justice Advocates Initiative (SJAI) The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs) Youth 2gether Network (Y2N) ------------ AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS 50TH SESSION OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 2011 BANJUL, THE GAMBIA OCTOBER, 2011 I. Introduction This shadow report on the rights of sexual minorities in The Federal Republic of Nigeria is the result of a collaborative effort between Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, the African Men for Sexual and Health Rights (AMSHeR), domestic and regional non- governmental organizations, and the International Human Rights Clinic and Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School. 1 Nigeria signed the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the African Charter”) 2 on 31 August, 1982 and ratified it on 22 June, 1983.
    [Show full text]
  • Submission No 1 INQUIRY INTO GAY and TRANSGENDER HATE
    Submission No 1 INQUIRY INTO GAY AND TRANSGENDER HATE CRIMES BETWEEN 1970 AND 2010 Name: Mr Thomas Poberezny-Lynch Date Received: 11 October 2018 ‘We All Thought They Were Poofters’: Anti-Homosexual Murder and Violence in Australia, 1970-1980 Thomas Poberezny-Lynch 2014 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilments of the requirements for the degree of BA(Hons) in History, University of Sydney 1 Abstract Little is known about the 1970s gay movement and gay media‟s response to anti- homosexual violence and murder. This thesis addresses the gap in the historiography by arguing that the gay movement and gay media identified the problem of violence and produced a discourse that condemned and resisted its effects. The thesis shows that the gay media created statistics and formulated a language to draw public attention towards violence directed at homosexuals. A close examination of a 1979 Supreme Court of New South Wales murder trial is also conducted to investigate how the psychiatric notion of latent homosexuality was used by the defence to exculpate the accused of murder. The thesis finishes by suggesting that the topic of anti- homosexual murder is one deserving more historical attention. 2 Acknowledgments Thank you to my supervisor Robert Aldrich for feedback on drafts and many helpful discussions. Thank you also to Garry Wotherspoon, Sue Thompson, Steve Johnson, Peter Rolfe and many others for putting up with and answering the numerous emails I sent over this last year. Dr Allen George thank you for offering to meet with me and discuss my research, your comments and advice were greatly appreciated.
    [Show full text]
  • Gay and Bisexual Men Talk About Their Sexual Lives and Sexual Health Needs
    Gay and bisexual men talk about their sexual lives and sexual health needs Report authors: Colin Morrison and Gregory Baker NAVIGATION Use the Bookmark Panel on the left to go to each Chapter. Click on Chapter headings to take you to that page. Each individual chapter content page is hyperlinked. You can also use the “Find” function in the Adobe toolbar to search for specific information. GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TALK ABOUT THEIR SEXUAL LIVES AND SEXUAL HEALTH NEEDS ABOUT FAQ FAQ Scotland is part of a larger project that wants to prevent HIV infections in Scotland among gay and bisexual men. The larger project is called an HIV Needs Assessment, which is being undertaken by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) and NHS Lothian. The two health boards launched the HIV Needs Assessment because numbers of men becoming HIV positive are on the rise. Each year around 100 men in Scotland become HIV positive and men who have sex with men is the population group most at risk. A Needs Assessment is a way for the NHS to take a close look at a health issue that affects a population and think about what needs to happen to tackle a problem (like HIV), including how services like sexual health clinics are doing and should do their job. The FAQ Scotland project is the community engagement part of the HIV Needs Assessment. FAQ wanted to make contact with gay and bisexual men and hear from them about their sex and relationships and sexual health. A company called TASC (Scotland) designed and delivered FAQ for the health boards.
    [Show full text]