This document summarizes a presentation on research about pathways to resilience among Asian and ethno-racial men who have sex with men (MSM). The presentation shares findings from a study exploring the critical life events that impact the sexual health of Asian MSM, and the factors that affect their resilience in response to these events. Small group exercises were used to discuss prohibiting barriers, facilitating conditions, and resilience strategies related to life challenges like migration, homophobia, and joining community groups. The presentation aimed to identify pathways to resilience and discuss applications to support practices.

1. Creating Pathways to
Resilience Amongst Asian and
Ethno-racial MSM
Alan Li, Christian Hui of the AMP2R Team
BC Gay Men’s Health Summit 2013

2. Acknowledgement
 Paying respects to the traditional lands of
The Coast Salish People
which are are on.

3. Acknowledgement
 All our research participants
 Our research team
 Funding Partner: CIHR

4. Session Objectives
1. Share our research learning on the needs, issues, and
resiliency responses of Asian MSM;
2. Engage participants in exploring pathways to resiliency;
3. Explore application of strength-based strategies in our
practices

5. Agenda
 Introduction, check in/ground rules (10 minutes)
 Presentation of Research Study and Findings (20 minutes)
 Small Groups Interactive Exercise (30 minutes)
 Large group debriefing (30 minutes)

6. Check-In
 Your Name
 Your Work Title/Organization
 Communities/Population(s) you work with
 What you hope to gain out of this session

7. Our Project
Asian MSM Pathways to Resiliency
(AMP2R)

8. Our Research Team
 Principal Investigators:
o Alan Li (Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment),
o Richard Utama (Asian Community AIDS Services),
o Maurice Poon (York University)
 Co-investigators:
o Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp (Asian Community AIDS Services),
o Y.Y. Chen (University of Toronto),
o Constantine Cabarios (Asian Community AIDS Services),
o Josephine Wong (Ryerson University),
o Barry Adam (University of Windsor),
o James Murray (AIDS Bureau, Ontario Ministry of Health)
 Staff: Christian Hui; Alvi Dandal

9. Our Research Team
 Advisory Committee:
o Peter Ho (Regent Park Community Health Centre),
o Darrell Tan (St. Michael’s Hospital),
o Kenneth Fung (University Health Network),
o David Yeh (Central Toronto Youth Services),
o Kenta Asakura (University of Toronto),
o Okjn Ohinoo (Queer Asian Youth),
o Aries Cheung (Asian Community AIDS Services),
o Hywell Tuscano (CATIE),
o Kenneth Poon (Asian Community AIDS Services),
o Andrew Miao (Asian Community AIDS Services)

10. Background
 Literature suggests that Asian & Pacific Islander MSM has similar
level of risk behaviors as other MSM yet the HIV prevalence is
lower….. (Wei, et. al)
 Most research on MSM and Asian MSM have focused on risks and
challenges vs. resiliencies and strengths
 Through needs identified via community health promotion
forum and research think tank, Asian Community AIDS Services
(ACAS) developed the community-based research study: Asian
Men Pathways to Resiliency (AMP2R), funded by CIHR CBR
Catalyst Grant

11. Our Project: Asian MSM Pathways to
Resiliency (AMP2R)
 Key Research questions:
 What are the critical life events that impact the sexual
health of Asian MSM
 What affect resiliency responses to these life
events/challenges
 How can we change our practices and policies to
improve the sexual health of Asian and other racialized
MSMs

12. Method
 Resiliency: "Our ability to cope with life events and
recover from adversity“
 Six focus groups:
 5 MSM groups: (N=51)
 3 mixed MSMs
 1 MSM Youth (Age <29)
 1 PHA (12 Asian PHA MSM)
 1 Service provider Focus group (N=12)

13. Our Participants
 Age: 20-29 (25), 30-39 (9), 40-49 (10), 50-59 (5), 60+ (1)
 Born in Canada: 11
 Born outside Canada: 40 (China/HK/Macau, Philippines)
 Years in Canada: 20+yrs (15), 1-5yrs (5)
 Immigration: Citizen (25), Landed/PR (9), Students/Other TRP (6)

14. Our findings: Key Critical Life Events that
Impact Sexual Health of Asian MSMs
 Coming Out
 Migration
 Sex, Dating & Relationships
 Experience with HIV
 Aging as MSM/Aging as PHA

15. A model for understanding Resilience:
What we’ve learnt
Underlying
Issues
Prohibiting
Barriers
and
Conditions
Facilitating
Conditions
Resiliency
Responses

16. Life event: Migration
 Underlying issues
Getting away from homophobic environments
To foster sense of independence and new identity as a gay/bi person/MSM
 “You know, as long as I hide my being gay, I was very comfortable life in
Japan, but as soon as I say that, then everybody would be talking behind my
back and so I didn’t tolerate for that. I just wanted to be honest to myself,
so that’s one of the reason for me to come to Canada.”
- 62 year old Japanese gay male who relocated to Canada 37 years ago.

17. What we’ve learnt: Migration
 Prohibiting barriers/conditions
Loss of support from family and friends
Loss of employment, professional credentials, material assets
Loss of cultural identity
Language/Service Access Barriers
Sexual racism
 "...when I came to Canada, I had a hard time. I gave up a lot of things in my
home country. I had a good job. I was a financial consultant. I had a lot of
money, I got a lot of things. I moved to Canada, because to pursue a different
life here. But when I was here, I couldn’t find a job. I went through a very hard
time. I was depressed…”
– Mainland Chinese HIV poz participant moving from Beijing to Toronto

18. What we’ve learnt : Migration
 Facilitation conditions
Mental readiness & careful migration planning
Financial security/resources
Physical distance and separation from toxic environment and family
Access to new sources of social support: friends, chosen family, new
partners, community agencies, etc.
 “Luckily I, I saved a lot of money when I was in Asia, so I was fine
financially. I also…was removing myself from my family and my church
and even though I was put in that situation, but mentally I have to go
through that to actually forcing myself to remove myself from them
mentally…they are really important to me but I feel my family’s toxic to
me…”
– Vietnamese MSM participant from US to Canada

19. What we’ve learnt : Migration
 Resiliency (traits, responses, strategies)
See migration as process for growth
Gain transferrable skills through migration experience
Foster resiliencies amidst multiple losses & challenges
Staying connected to cultural roots and values
Reconciling conflict between supportive and oppressive aspects of
one’s culture and identity
“…and I found that I’m a stronger person and deal with a lot
more…you know a new country and barely any relatives over here
for the past twenty years already. So I think um I’ve done quite well
for myself.”
-36 year old Chinese male who had lived in Canada for 21 years

20. What we want to learn more
 How do MSMs navigate through the various barriers and
facilitating conditions to develop resiliency?
 The actual path they take
 The factors that affect decision making at each
stage/point along the pathway

21. What we want to learn more
Isolation
information
Referral
Social
Netw
ork
Person
al
Readin
ess
Fear
of
gossip
Stigma
Language
Barrier
Internali
zed
homoph
obia
Distrus
t
Commu
nity
Support
Groups
?
?
?
?

22. Small Group Exercise
 Purpose:
 Share your thoughts and experiences to inform resiliency
responses to specific life challenge
 Exploring the pathway to resiliency for specific life
event/challenge
 Time: 30 minutes
 Report Back: Summarize key insights in your small group
and share with large group in 5 minutes

23. RESILIENCE
LIFE EVENT(S)

24. COMMUNITY AGENCY
JOINING COMMUNITY GROUPS

25. HOMOPHOBIA
STIGMA

26. Small Group Exercise
1. Discuss and add to the cards that correspond to
o Prohibiting factors/barriers (Orange)
o Facilitating conditions (Green)
o Resiliency responses/strategies (Pink)
2. Identify the most significant factor(s) that affect the resiliency
response:
 Negative (Thunder)
 Positive ( Sun)
3. Draw and map out the connections amongst these
factors/conditions and the specific pathways you use to
navigate through them

27. Report Back (5 minutes each group)
 Please describe your key challenges and resiliency
responses
 What are the key insights from your group’s
mapping journey?

28. More group reflections
 What are some knowledge/insights that may be useful
in your work or personal life?
 What strategies we may want to work together on?
 Questions? Comments?

29. A Parting Thought
 “…what I had learnt from this event [testing HIV+] is
that I became stronger emotionally and….
psychologically as well. I felt like I saw that moment
as a chance of being reborn. A rebirth.”
–Canadian Chinese HIV poz participant from Hong Kong

30. Contact Us
 Christian Hui
AMP2R Research Study Coordinator
Asian Community AIDS Services
research@acas.org