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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Substance Use Disorders and Behavioral Addictions
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1422775
This article is part of the Research Topic Assessment and Management of Addictive Disorders in Sexual and Racial Minorities View all articles

The complex social, cultural and psychological drivers of the 'chemsex' experiences of men who have sex with men A systematic review and conceptual thematic synthesis of qualitative studies

Provisionally accepted
Edward Mundy Edward Mundy 1Alexander Carter Alexander Carter 2Tom Nadarzynski Tom Nadarzynski 3Christopher Whiteley Christopher Whiteley 4Richard O De Visser Richard O De Visser 2Carrie D LLEWELLYN Carrie D LLEWELLYN 2*
  • 1 University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom
  • 2 Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom
  • 3 University of Westminster, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 4 Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Chemsex' is the sexualised use of drugs among men who have sex with men (MSM).Past systematic reviews have primarily focussed on quantitative research exploring the key characteristics and health consequences of chemsex. However, a large body of qualitative literature exists, drawing on different theoretical frameworks. A systematic review and thematic synthesis of the qualitative research on chemsex was conducted with the aim of exploring the chemsex experiences of MSM in the context of substance misuse and addictions, and to, as well as a reviewing their of the underlying theoretical frameworks. was conducted.Six databases were searched, and forty-three papers were included in the review. The thematic synthesis resulted in four key themes: 'characterising chemsex', 'the context around chemsex', 'the chemsex experience', and 'harms, saying safe, and stopping chemsex'. Only nine papers explicitly drew on theoretical frameworks, which were broadly divided into two categories: those which drew on psychological theories, and those that framed chemsex as a social and cultural phenomenon. The results of the thematic synthesis add further understanding of the key characteristics of chemsex as well as some of the complex social and psychological drivers which may shape why people have chemsex. Finally, the review highlights the clinical implications and inherent complexities in providing clinical services for those reporting chemsex and the need for greater application of theory to advance our understanding of chemsex and helpcontinue to the developpment of appropriate forms of therapeutic support.

    Keywords: Chemsex, Sexualised drug use, polydrug use, substance use, Men who have sex with men, Qualitative, Systematic review,

    Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Mundy, Carter, Nadarzynski, Whiteley, De Visser and LLEWELLYN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Carrie D LLEWELLYN, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom

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