What men worry about: the place of HIV/AIDS and STDs in health concerns among Turkish, second-generation Greek, Chilean, Vietnamese and Anglo-Australian men

In this paper we investigated the place of sexual health within the wider c ontext of men's health concerns and explored whether men's health concerns and health service preferences differed according to ethnicity. Data are dr awn from a larger study conducted during 1995 and 1996, which examined cult ure, gender and perceptions of risk of sexually transmissible diseases (STD s) including HIV/AIDS. A questionnaire was administered to 536 men aged 18 to 45 living in Melbourne, Australia, from Chilean, Greek (second generatio n), Turkish, Vietnamese and Anglo-Saxon/Celtic backgrounds. We compare key findings with those from a previous companion study with women from the sam e ethnic backgrounds. Men and women were similar in that neither group singled out sexual health or STDs as a key concern. Overall, men and women shared high levels of know ledge about STDs and HIV/AIDS. However, while both men and women identified their family doctor as a key source of information and treatment for sexua l health issues, men were more likely than women to say they would use serv ices specific to sexual health. Men were less likely to view sexual health services as stigmatised whereas women tended to avoid them and prefer gende r-specific mainstream services for their sexual health needs. There were so me significant ethnic differences in men's knowledge about STDs and HIV/AID S and in preferred health services. While there is some support for ethnica lly specific sexual health services for men, these strategies need to be ta ken up by both general practitioners and mainstream STD/sexual health clini cs.