Drink, illicit drugs and unsafe sex in women

Aims. To establish the extent and nature of linkages between illicit drug a nd alcohol use and sexual behaviour in women. Participants and Setting. One hundred women attending either a Genitourinary Medicine Clinic or a Family Planning Clinic. Design. Respondents were interviewed using a semi-structu red interview schedule covering the effect of drink/illicit drug use on the incidence of sex, on condom use, and on specific sexual activities, and de liberate use of drink/illicit drugs to affect sex. Interviews focused on th e last three new male partners, from the beginning of the sexual relationsh ip through its development. Data analysis was primarily qualitative, quanti tative analysis was conducted where appropriate. Results. There were few ca ses in which women reported that consumption of drink/illicit drugs caused them to engage in sexual behaviour which they would not have engaged in if they had not had drink/drugs. Associations between drink and illicit drugs and sexual behaviour were, mainly, either because encounters took place in social situations where drugs or drink were being consumed or because the w oman used drink or drugs instrumentally to engage in desired behaviours. Th ere was some evidence to suggest that greater use of drugs and alcohol migh t be part of a wider pattern of social behaviour including more sexual part ners. Conclusions. The women's self-reported behaviour suggested that illic it drug and alcohol use in itself did not usually result in unsafe or undes ired sexual behaviour.