Seeking Long-Term Gay Couples

[LifeLube is happy to pass along this behavioral research opportunity.]

We are studying how long-term couples handle ‘outside sex’. If you are a long-term couple (8+ years), and are not monogamous (e.g. have some type of ‘outside sex’), we would be grateful for your participation. The study consists of an interview with each partner (separately) based on a structured questionnaire.

All information is held confidentially and participants will be sent the final findings. Learnings from the study will be shared with the LGBT community.

We are a long-term couple (30+) years conducting research on how other long-term (8+years) gay couples manage ‘outside’ sex. We are interested in how couples have navigated this issue, what ‘rules’ they find helpful, the impact ‘outside’ sex has on their relationship, etc. We know there is much diversity in approach, but we are exploring the issue to find if there are any common elements and successful models that would be valuable to share with other couples.

We consider all information confidential and will hold it as such. (This includes not sharing one partner's comments with the other). We are asking for some demographic data because we suspect age, race, HIV status, etc. might be important variables. However, we ask that you only provide the information you are comfortable sharing. If you are more comfortable participating under a pseudonym, please feel free.

Although we are conducting this study independently, we both have training and professional experience in the areas of research and psychology. Blake is a marketing research consultant to the healthcare industry. He routinely conducts focus groups and individual interviews with physicians. Lanz is an organization development consultant facilitating teams and coaching executives. His backround includes clinical psychology and work with couples and groups. If you want more bio information, please feel free to visit either of our websites: www.insighthealthcare.com or www.mandanagroup.com

For each couple participating, a donation of $25 will be made to the LGBT or AIDS organization of their choice.

For more information, please contact:
Lanz Lowen lanzlowen@aol.com
Blake Spears dbspears@aol.com