Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The SIGMA project research had its origins in 1982 at University College Cardiff, as a project to investigate gay and bisexual men's sexual behaviour as AIDS began to threaten (then GRID: gay-related immune deficiency). Following extensive piloting, the main SIGMA study was launched in 1986 and between 1987 and 1994 carried out a seven-year, five-phase cohort study of gay and bisexual men. The main aims of the study were to estimate, in a natural (non-clinic based) sample: (1) the prevalence and incidence of sexual behaviours (especially those implicated in the transmission of HIV), (2) to take blood-samples to investigate rates of HIV sero-positivity and sero-conversion, (3) to examine the social and sexual lifestyles and culture of gay and bisexual men, and (4) to monitor the trends towards safer sex practice, especially the adoption of condoms. As a longitudinal study, there was a major focus on change in these processes. SIGMA was one of the largest studies of gay and bisexual men in the world, was an integral part of the WHO (Global Programme on AIDS) Seven-Nation Homosexual Response Studies and shared research instruments with a number of US and European projects. A component part of SIGMA data consists of 1,975 month-long sexual diaries. The Diaries Project asked gay and bisexual men to keep diaries, filled in on a daily basis usually over a period of a maximum of one month, giving detailed information about the content and sequence of their sexual activity, about their partners' characteristics and about the context in which the sexual behaviour occurred. Diarists were recruited both as part of the Project SIGMA ongoing samples, supplemented occasionally by large-scale appeals in the gay press for volunteers. The 774 diaries have now been anonymised, microfiched and indexed. the machine-readable coded versions are lodged in this dataset. The natural-language microfiched and anonymised versions are not held at the UK Data Archive, but at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, Archives and Manuscripts, The Wellcome Trust, London; see the Wellcome Trust Investigating responses to AIDS in the late 1980s blog page for further details and how to apply for access.
Main Topics:
Each wave has a core and non-core component, the core component always covers: phlebotomy (actual blood test); SIGMA type (age-group by relationship status); current sexual orientation; sexual acts inventory; relationships and history; regular, occasional and casual sex activity; un/safe and risk behaviour; health and lifestyle; DAS (Leeds depression, anxiety, stigma) scale; (reported) HIV testing; 1-week retrospective sexual diary. The non-core component covers: Wave 1 (1987/88) current demographic details; the past (sexual and orientational history, coming out, sexual relationship/s); sexual practices (including age at first homosexual (and heterosexual) experiences, timing and numbers of subsequent sexual experience and casual and regular partners; genitalia; 1-week diary; health Leeds DAS scale; suicidal feelings/incidents; HIV test; STIs, 'safer sex' practices, beliefs; condom usage; aids knowledge and networks; regime and lifestyle; recreational drugs; health beliefs. Wave 2 (1988/89) included: disclosure; social networks; sexual partners; communication and norms; subjective estimates of risk; SM sex, supplement for HIV sero-positives. Wave 3 (1989/90) included: relationship history chart; household arrangements; sex for money; verbal and physical abuse; (sero-positive supplement). Wave 4 (1991/2) included: condom use; meaning of words describing sexual behaviour; clinic attendance; (new respondent supplement) (sero-positive supplement). Wave 5 (1993/4) included: believed HIV status; sexual health publicity campaigns (sero-positive supplement). Standard Measures: DAS (Leeds Depression, Anxiety Scale) Hamilton 1960; Snaith et al 1976); Sexual Acts Inventory (developed by project SIGMA; Coxon 1992); Occupation Code; Socio-Economic Group and Registrar General's Social Class (OPCS, 1980).
3 x 3 Quota design (age: young, medium, older by relationship-type: closed, open, no regular), wit
Face-to-face interview
Diaries
self-completion; blood sampling
