Paid recruitment staff are needed to assist with this year's Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Survey (GAPSS) at gay events, bars and venues between 10-17 February. The biannual survey is a joint project between the Research, Analysis and Information Unit at the NZ AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Epidemiology Group at Otago University. Key tasks will involve encouraging gay and bisexual men of all ethnicities, ages and types to fill in a brief self-completed questionnaire about their sexual behaviour and HIV-related attitudes and activities. Staff will not interview participants directly nor handle completed questionnaires, which participants place into a secure return box themselves. "We need enthusiastic, approachable and mature recruiters who are able to work flexible hours and feel comfortable working in gay male venues," says John Rowden, the GAPSS Recruitment Coordinator. "We're particularly interested in recruiting Maori, Pacific and Asian staff in order to increase survey participation among these groups." Several new questions have been added for the 2008 survey, in recognition of the changing and complicated sexual networks of men who have sex with men. "For the 2008 survey we've added new questions about sexual mixing (what types of guys men are having sex with), and where men meet their male sexual partners," explains NZAF Senior Researcher Peter Saxton. "The 2008 sexual marketplace is different even from a few years ago, so we're interested in learning a little more about today's sexual networks. Other questions have remained the same so we can compare results from the previous surveys." Recruiters helped to enlist 1,228 men to take part in GAPSS when it was last conducted in 2006. "The GAPSS survey is a great opportunity for gay and bisexual men to have their own experiences about sex counted along with over one thousand other men,” Saxton says. "Recruiters play a very important part in helping to collect this valuable data." If you're interested in becoming a recruiter, please contact the Recruitment Coordinator, John Rowden on (09) 300 6964 or john.rowden@nzaf.org.nz by Friday 1 February to arrange an interview.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 10th January 2008 - 12:34pm