{"id":538,"date":"2023-10-24T10:38:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T10:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/?page_id=538"},"modified":"2025-02-18T23:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:57:42","slug":"the-covid-sex-lives-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The COVID Sex Lives Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Led by <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/person\/1169307\/ben-light\">Professor Ben Light<\/a>, this large scale project investigated the experiences of the minority group, men who have sex with men (MSM), during the UK COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until January 2022. In particular the project team were interested in how government-sanctioned sexual health advice directed at MSM during the UK COVID-19 pandemic impacted (if at all) on their sexual practices, health and wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study comprised data from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4 online surveys generating 1409 valid responses,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the messaging within, and functions of, dating and hookup apps used by MSM,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Twitter based-communication of relevant charities that serve MSM,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the COVID messaging of charities that serve MSM delivered via their websites,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>general media coverage regarding MSM during the pandemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In brief, we found that health charities and dating\/hookup apps that serve MSM were quick<br>to respond to translating government messaging about the pandemic and continued to do so by taking a multiplatform approach and working in collaboration as necessary. For charities this was an achievement, as they, like many other organisations, had to move to online working and<br>they often saw an exponential increase in the uptake of their services.  Themes in our findings relate to: <strong>Hooking Up During a Pandemic&nbsp;<\/strong>; <strong>Personal Ethics and Risk Management<\/strong>; <strong>Responses to Health Messaging<\/strong>; Accessing Sexual Health Services; and considerations regarding the disclosure of vaccination status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our recommendations relate to;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The need to prioritise mental health through times of crisis;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Offering explicit decision-making frameworks and toolkits to help navigate public health messaging, ethics and risk;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Extending engagement with digital technologies, such as dating\/hookup apps, to make them work better for. the group that communications are expected to reach;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Considering a wider range of ways to reach MSM vis health messaging;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Offering hybrid health services based on digital platforms in post-crisis\/pandemic conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The full report can be obtained on an open access basis from the <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/output\/1640747\/\">University or Salford Institutional Repository<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/output\/1640760\">a short public facing summary of results<\/a>, and some further analysis regarding the influence of <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/output\/1640767\/\">age<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/output\/2600834\">race and ethnicity<\/a>. Preliminary data analysis release as soon as possible is also available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-medium-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-stretch is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Various members of the team have also spoken about the project on the Being LGBTQ podcast and these can be accessed via Spotify as detailed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Episode 174: Dr Rachel Katz &amp;apos;COVID Sex Lives&amp;apos;\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/18wGACcaxPxrOS70QXVAmi?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rachel Katz talking about some of the projects early findings on the&nbsp;<em>Being LGBTQ<\/em>&nbsp;Podcast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Episode 194: Professor Ben Light &amp; Lisa Garwood-Cross &amp;apos;COVID Sex Lives Part 2&amp;apos;\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/4kopBK5jhwIUbDR3IHt2E6?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Lisa Garwood-Cross and Ben Light talking about some of the project&#8217;s mid point findings on the&nbsp;<em>Being LGBTQ<\/em>&nbsp;Podcast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> The project benefited from funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council via the UKRI\u2019s Agile Research and Innovation Response to COVID-19 call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project team included <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/person\/1176924\/lisa-garwood-cross\">Dr Lisa Garwood-Cross<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/salford-repository.worktribe.com\/person\/2210527\/rachel-merrick\">Dr Rachel Katz<\/a>, Dr Karenza Moore (now at Newcastle University), and Kia Hinds at the University of Salford.Project partners included Birmingham City University and Kings College London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Led by Professor Ben Light, this large scale project investigated the experiences of the minority group, men who have sex with men (MSM), during the UK COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until January 2022. In particular the project team were interested in how government-sanctioned sexual health advice directed at MSM during the UK COVID-19 pandemic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":1406,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"[]"},"class_list":["post-538","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Led by Professor Ben Light, this large scale project investigated the experiences of the minority group, men who have sex with men (MSM), during the UK COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until January 2022. In particular the project team were interested in how government-sanctioned sexual health advice directed at MSM during the UK COVID-19 pandemic [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-18T23:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/\",\"name\":\"The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-24T10:38:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-18T23:57:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Digital Society\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Digital Society Projects\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The COVID Sex Lives Project\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/\",\"name\":\"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/227\/2025\/02\/university-salford-logo-400x250-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/227\/2025\/02\/university-salford-logo-400x250-1.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","og_description":"Led by Professor Ben Light, this large scale project investigated the experiences of the minority group, men who have sex with men (MSM), during the UK COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until January 2022. In particular the project team were interested in how government-sanctioned sexual health advice directed at MSM during the UK COVID-19 pandemic [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/","og_site_name":"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","article_modified_time":"2025-02-18T23:57:42+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/","url":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/","name":"The COVID Sex Lives Project - Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-24T10:38:58+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-18T23:57:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/the-covid-sex-lives-project\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Digital Society","item":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Digital Society Projects","item":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/digital-society\/digital-society-projects\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The COVID Sex Lives Project"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/","name":"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#organization","name":"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society","url":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/227\/2025\/02\/university-salford-logo-400x250-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/227\/2025\/02\/university-salford-logo-400x250-1.png","width":400,"height":250,"caption":"Centre for Research on Inclusive Society"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538\/revisions\/1660"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/inclusive-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}