Sex of interviewer, place of interview, and responses of homosexual men to sensitive questions

Abstract

Effects of sex of interviewer and place of interview on the responses of 57 AIDS patients and 145 other homosexual men were studied. Data on sensitive topics were collected by five male and three female medical officers at places convenient to respondents. Male physicians recorded fellatio more frequently, but female physicians recorded younger ages of initiating homosexual activities and more frequent use of certain recreational drugs. These differences apparently were due to different patterns of sexual contact and drug use in four cities. Patients with AIDS tended to be interviewed in hospitals and doctors' offices, other men tended to be interviewed in hotel rooms, and patients tended to be different from other men. After adjustments were made for confounding, sex of interviewer and place of interview seemed to have little influence on the answers obtained.