About STIs

There has​ been an increase in the rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) amoungst older Australians. A number of reasons for this have been proposed, including 

Sex, Age & Me

Sex, Age & Me is a National Study of Sex, Sexual Health, and Relationships amoung Older Australians, funded by the Australian Research Council. This project is based at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in partnership with the National Ageing Research Institute and the University of Sheffield. A research broadsheet is available here and some of the publications arising from the project listed below:

• Fileborn, B., Lyons, A., Heywood, W., Minichiello, V., Hinchliff, S., Barrett, C., Brown, G., Malta, S., & Crameri, P. (accepted - 08/12/2016). The importance of sex and sexual pleasure for men aged 60 and older who engage in heterosexual relationships: Findings from a qualitative interview study. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 
• Lyons, A., Heywood, W., Fileborn, B., Minichiello, V., Barrett, C., Brown, G., Hinchliff, S., Malta, S., & Crameri, P. (2017). Sexually active older Australian's knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and safer sexual practices. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. Epub-ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12655
• Lyons, A., Heywood, W., Fileborn, B., Minichiello, V., Barrett, C., Brown, G., Hinchliff, S., Malta, S., & Crameri, P. (2017). The Sex, Age, and Me Study: Recruitment and sampling for a large mixed-methods study of sexual health and relationships in an older Australian population. Culture, Health and Sexuality. Epub-ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2017.1288268
• Fileborn, B., Brown, G., Lyons, A., Hinchliff, S., Heywood, W., Minichiello, V., Malta, S., Barrett, C., & Crameri, P. (2017). Safer sex in later life: Qualitative interviews with older Australians on their understandings and practices of safer sex. Journal of Sex Research. Epub-ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2017.1280121
• Heywood, W., Lyons, A., Fileborn, B., Minichiello, V., Barrett, C., Brown, G., Hinchliff, S., Malta, S., & Crameri, P. (2016). Self-reported testing and treatment histories among older Australian men and women who may be at risk of a sexually transmitted infection. Sexual Health. Epub-ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1071/SH16075

Information for older people

Information on STIs for older people is currently limited. There is a great website based in the USA called Safer Sex for Seniors which has a great range of resources, including information sheets on many topics and this video below left. The video below right is by Shannon Dowler MD.