Bridging Barriers to Care
Substance Use
My own interest in substance use stems from my own lived experiences of undergoing treatment and rehabilitation for substance dependence. I am a person living in recovery from substance use. It is important for me to declare this in most of my work to ensure that readers understand the nature in which most of my studies are conceived or conceptualized. Nevertheless, I am engaged with scholars in the field and am continuously growing and learning more about the diversity of substance use experiences, and the best patient-centered care practices that can be implemented to optimize health outcomes.
My work has largely focused on sexualized substance use among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), otherwise known as ‘chemsex’ or ‘chill fun’ in some settings. I attempt to make sense of the epidemiology of such drug practices, and the social determinants of risks that may be associated with it. I opt for qualitative approaches as well to better understand the lived experiences of people who use drugs, and for a deeper understanding of the contexts in which such use takes place. I have also begun conducting work on substance use (including alcohol and other legal substances) in the general population through online surveys.
Ongoing/Upcoming Projects:
International sexual health and reproductive (ISHARE) Health during COVID-19 (Singapore country lead)
The Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study for young GBMSM (Principal Investigator)
Sexual health of youth in Singapore, and exploring the social determinants of sexual health among youth who identify as minority race individuals (Principal Investigator)
Alcohol, substance use and negative affective states among GBMSM (Co-Investigator with the ICARUS study/team)
Chasing utopias book project: Sexualized substance use among GBMSM in Singapore (Principal Investigator)
Photo by Wengang Zhai on Unsplash
Relevant Publications in Peer Reviewed Journals
Tan R. K. J.*, O’Hara C. A., Koh W. L., Le D., Tan A., Tyler A., Tan C., Kwok C., Banerjee S., Wong M. L. (2021). Delineating patterns of sexualized substance use and its association with sexual and mental health outcomes among young gay, bisexual and queer men in Singapore: A latent class analysis. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11056-5
Tan R. K. J.*, Phua K., Tan A., Gan D. C. G., Ho L. P., Ong E. J., See M. T. (2021). Exploring the role of trauma in underpinning sexualised drug use (‘chemsex’) among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Singapore. International Journal of Drug Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103333
Ong C., Tan R. K. J.*, Le D., Tan A., Tyler A., Tan C., Kwok C., Banerjee S., Wong M. L. (2021). Association between sexual orientation acceptance and suicidal ideation, substance use, and internalised homophobia amongst the Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study of young gay, bisexual, and queer men in Singapore. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10992-6
Tan R. K. J.*, O’Hara C. A., Koh W. L., Le D., Tan A., Tyler A., Tan C., Kwok C., Banerjee S., Wong C. S., Wong M. L., Chen M. I. (2021). Social capital and chemsex initiation among young gay, bisexual and queer men: The Pink Carpet Y cohort study. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-021-00353-2
Michielsen K., Larrson E. C., Kågesten A. on behalf of the I-SHARE Team et al. (2021). International Sexual Health And REproductive health (I-SHARE) survey during COVID-19: study protocol for online national surveys and global comparative analyses. Sexually Transmitted Infections. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2020-054664
Tan R. K. J., Wong C. M., Chen M. I.*, Chan Y. Y., Ibrahim M. A., Lim O. Z., Chio M. T., Wong C. S., Chan R. K. W., Chua L. J., Choong B. C. H. (2018). Chemsex among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Singapore and the challenges ahead: a qualitative study. International Journal of Drug Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.10.002
*Corresponding Author