The STAR study is a questionnaire-based study examining the independent risk factors for urethral gonorrhoea among men who have sex with men.
About gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually transmissible infections (STIs) globally. Gonorrhoea can infect the throat, genital and anus. Gonorrhoea is usually symptomatic at the genital site; but it is usually asymptomatic in the throat and anus.
About the study
Australia is seeing large rises in gonorrhoea and we do not understand why. We would like to better understand gonorrhoea transmission between men to see if this leads to better advice to reduce these infections.
What's involved
If you agree to participate in this project, we will ask you to complete a short questionnaire with three questions about your recent sexual practices. You will need to complete the questionnaire at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. The questionnaire will take approximately 1 minute.
How to get involved
We will ask you to complete the questionnaire if you are seeking STI services at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and you:
- are 16 years or older and
- identify as a man who has sex with men
You can choose to take part or not.
Ethics
All research in Australia involving humans is reviewed by an independent group of people called a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). The ethical aspects of this research project have been approved by the Alfred Hospital HREC.
This project will be carried out according to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). This statement has been developed to protect the interests of people who agree to participate in human research studies. Approval has been given by the Alfred Hospital HREC which reviews ethics applications for research carried out at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.