The relation between quality of life and social support in gay men: A case of İzmir, Turkey

Background

Negative attitudes toward homosexuals who are not generally accepted in our society are prevalent. But little is known about the quality of life of gay men in Turkey.

Aims

The objective is to examine the quality of life of gay men and to determine the relation between quality of life and social support.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional study of gay living Izmir, Turkey, identified by snowball sampling.

The questionnaires which included a quality of life measure, a social support measure and sociodemographic form were conducted by the researcher to the 72 individuals.

The subjective quality of life was measured by subscales of the World Health Organization Brief Quality of Life Assessment Scale (WHOQOL-BREEF) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

Student T-test, Mann Whitney-U test, Kruscall Wallis, Pearson correlation analysis were used for analysis.

Results

Quality of life and social support was worse in gay men in Turkey. It is established that life quality of homosexuals compared to transsexuals were statistically significant effected negatively (p<0, 05).

Not to be harassed sexually, having social insurance, being aware of the social networks deal with their problems, not to be addicted ( cigarette, alcohol, drug) have positive impacts on quality of life.

Parents’ education was the most important factor effecting the quality of life is.

 A positive correlation was found between the quality of life and perceived level of social support.

Conclusion

To change the negative beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuals by social and training programs, to establish social network and to provide social support make the gay men’s quality of life better.