Psychological Predictors of Condom Use to Prevent HIV Transmission Among Zimbabwean Students

Abstract

Psychologists have much to contribute to HIV prevention. It is important to identify predictors of HIV preventive behaviour and to incorporate this information in AIDS education. The Health Belief Model is an established model of health behaviour that has recently been applied to AIDS prevention. It originally posited that perceptions of susceptibility to, severity of, and solutions to, illness predicted health behaviour. It thus emphasized “disease” dimensions of illness. It was expanded to include barriers to, cues to, and social support for, health behaviour. The enlarged model thus incorporated “social” dimensions of health behaviour. Because preventing AIDS involves a partner and considerable social risks and skills, inclusion of social components may improve the capacity of the Health Belief Model to predict HIV preventive behaviour. An inventory measuring condom use and the enlarged Health Belief Model was completed by 181 male and 171 female teacher‐trainees. Data were analysed using multiple regression with hierarchical entry, first of disease dimensions (susceptibility, severity, solution), then social dimensions (barriers, cues, social support). Addition of social dimensions to the disease dimension equation yielded a significant F‐change among both sexes and increased the variance explained from 16% to 30% among males, and from 4% to 14% among females. The full regression was significant only among males. The implications of these results for intervention goals, messages and strategies among both sexes are elucidated.