Condom-use Intentions Research Articles

A quantitative study on the condom-use behaviors of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old urban African American males.

This research study sought to develop, pilot test, and assess a brief male-centered condom promotion program for urban young adult African American males. For study implementation, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used, and the project was guided by tenets of two common but integrated theoretical frameworks in HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention research: the social cognitive theory and the stages of change model. The purpose of the qualitative component was to identify and explore condom-use barriers and facilitators while that of the quantitative component was to identify the prevalence of condom-related behaviors and the feasibility of program administration. After recruitment of study participants from hang-out spots and street intercepts, study participants were self-administered a baseline survey regarding their perceived condom-use behaviors prior to random assignment to program conditions (a condom promotion program and an attention-matched comparison condition). In this paper, we report the findings from the analyses of the quantitative baseline survey data. While the occurrence of HIV/STD-related risk behavIors were highly prevalent among this population; importantly, regression analyses revealed that sexual debut, favorable attitudes toward condom use, social or personal connectedness to HIV/STDs, health beliefs, perceived susceptibility, unprotected sexual encounters, and refusal skills were predictive of retrospective (i.e., prior 30 days) condom use while positive reasons (pros) to use condoms, condom-use beliefs, condom-carrying, health belief, unprotected sexual encounters and refusal skills were also predictive of prospective (i.e., future 30 days) condom-use intentions. The implications and limitations of this study are described and recommendations provided for program development.

AIDS, sexuality and attitude of adolescents about protection against HIV

To describe the role of sexual experience based on information and sociocultural contexts for the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission in adolescents. A questionnaire was answered by 1,386 middle school students from the state of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, in 2000. The instrument included the following variables: personal characteristics, sexual experience, communication context and knowledge on AIDS, attitudes towards condom use, risk and protective behaviors and feelings. Data analysis comprised statistical description and relational analysis (Chi-square and mean comparison tests). Lack of knowledge about HIV transmission was related to peers as main information source (p<0.05). Steady romantic relationships are the predominant context for sexual relationships with penetration (p<0.001). AIDS protection was associated to three factors: ongoing relationship, number of sexual partners and safe sex (p<0.001). A positive attitude for condom use is favored by talks about sexuality and the intention of condom use (p<0.001). The obstacles to condom use are: having had recent sexual relationships, risk behaviors, inadequate knowledge and dependence of television as an information source (p<0.005). The practice of safe sex is affected by adolescent's level of information, their attitudes about condom use and fear of the epidemic. Reevaluating prevention through multipliers strategy as well as reappraisal of family as mediators and the use of appropriate materials about Aids for teenagers are recommended.

The Influence of Power on HIV Risk Among Pregnant Women in Rural Haiti

Given that condom use is not directly under a woman's control, the sexual division of power may play an important role in sexual behavior among pregnant women. We assessed the influence of factors related to the theory of gender and power (e.g., relationship power, abuse history, and sexual communication) on sexual behavior (e.g., two or more partners in the year prior to pregnancy, condom use, condom-use intentions, and STI diagnosis) among 196 pregnant women recruited from five community dispensaries in rural Haiti. Results showed that gender and power factors significantly related to sexual behavior. Gender and power factors were most significant for condom use and intention to use condoms, accounting for 18 and 25% of the variance above and beyond HIV knowledge and demographic covariates, respectively. These results suggest the need to create prevention interventions that restore power imbalances, provide support for women suffering abuse, and strengthen communication skills.

The relevance of cultural factors in predicting condom-use intentions among immigrants from the Netherlands Antilles

A study into the relevance of cultural factors in predicting condom-use intentions among Antillean migrants in the Netherlands is described in this article. The association between the intention to use condoms with a new sexual partner and a perceived taboo on discussing sex, beliefs about sex education and machismo beliefs on gender and power relationships is addressed. The study was conducted among 346 Dutch Antilleans from a random sample of an Antillean population aged 15-50 years. The response rate was 37.8%. The results showed that condom-use intentions were primarily determined by perceived subjective norms, the perceived taboo on discussing sex, machismo attitudes, gender, age and educational background. Moreover, the respondent's opinion regarding machismo was an effect modificator for the association between condom-use intentions and subjective social norm. It is concluded that, in predicting condom-use intentions, factors specific to the culture of a population contribute significantly to the determinants drawn from the general social-cognition models. It is recommended that future research should use measurement instruments that are adapted to culture-specific beliefs, and should explore the influence of cultural factors on actual condom use. Moreover, interventions promoting condom use among migrant populations should target the cultural correlates of condom use.

Factors Affecting Behaviours that address HIV Risk among Nigerian University Students

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting HIV risk reduction among University students in Nigeria. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: 450 first year University students at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Participants: The sample consisted of 220 (48.9%) males and 230 (51.1%) females in the age range of 16 to 30 years (M age 21.6 yr., SD=2.9) chosen at convenience from a first year orientation class. Main outcome measures: Sexual behavior and condom use, knowledge about correct condom use, intention of condom use, behavioural norms, attitudes, normative beliefs, and subjective norms about condoms, HIV/AIDS vulnerability (likelihood to get it), severity, prevention benefits and prevention barriers, and condom use self-efficacy. Results: Bivariate analysis found that HIV/AIDS perceived prevention barriers, HIV/AIDS perceived severity, and male gender were associated, and age at first vaginal intercourse was inversely associated with HIV risk behavior. Regression analysis indicated that perceived prevention barriers and male gender were predictive and age at first vaginal intercourse was inversely predictive for HIV/AIDS risk behavior. Conclusion: HIV prevention intervention programmes should include addressing the perceived prevention barriers particularly with condom use, students engaging early in their life in sexual intercourse and male students. IFE Psychologia (2003) 11(2), 1-8

Factors affecting behaviours that address HIV risk among black and white South Africans.

The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting HIV risk reduction among 150 Black and 150 White South Africans chosen by systematic random sampling. Main outcome measures included sexual behavior and condom use, knowledge about correct condom use, intention of condom use, behavioural norms, attitudes, normative beliefs, and subjective norms about condoms, HIV/AIDS health beliefs, and HIV risk behaviour. Bivariate analysis gave positive significant relations among being single, age, HIV/AIDS perceived severity, HIV/AIDS prevention barriers and HIV risk behaviour. Further, bivariate analysis gave negative significant relations among age at onset of puberty, age at first vaginal intercourse, correct condom use knowledge, subjective norms, intention to use condoms and HIV risk behaviour. Regression analysis indicated that for subjective norm to use condoms, less intention for condom use, less condom use knowledge and younger age of first vaginal intercourse were predictive for HIV/AIDS risk behaviour. HIV prevention intervention programmes should include the identified factors and cultural diversity.

Factors Explaining the Intention to Use Condoms Among Injecting Drug Users Participating in a Needle‐Exchange Program1

This study identified the psychosocial factors related to condom‐use intention, based on Triandis’ (1980) theory of interpersonal behavior, among 261 injection drug users participating in a needle‐exchange program. With regular partners (n= 139), condom‐use intention was explained by normative beliefs, self‐efficacy, length of relationship with last regular sexual partner, and taking oral contraceptives. Condom‐use intention with casual partners (n= 157) was also associated with self‐efficacy and normative beliefs, on top of cognitive dimension with attitudes and lending used needles. Neither the perception of being HIV‐positive, nor the habit of using a condom was associated with intention. It is thus suggested that interventions aimed at promoting condom use among this clientele be oriented toward the reinforcement of personal convictions as well as toward the development of competencies needed to overcome obstacles, since both relate to the intention to adopt this behavior.

Sexual Self‐Control and Male Condom‐Use Outcome Beliefs: Predicting Heterosexual Men's Condom‐Use Intentions and Behavior1

A model of condom‐use intentions and behavior that we previously developed for women was replicated and extended with heterosexual men (n= 203; M age = 20.1 years). The general determinants of intentions to use condoms were consistent for men and women. The predictors of general condom attitudes and condom‐use self‐efficacy differed across gender. Male condom‐use outcome beliefs and sexual self‐control emerged as predictors of sexually experienced men's condom attitudes and self‐efficacy, respectively. In a 3‐month follow‐up, intentions and sexual self‐control predicted condom‐use behavior. These findings have implications for specificity vs. generality in the correlates of common behaviors across groups, the study of gender differences in condom use, and the development of intervention content targeted to specific populations.

Factors Affecting Behaviors That Address HIV Risk among Senior Secondary School Pupils in South Africa

The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting HIV risk reduction among senior secondary school pupils in South Africa. The sample included 460 Grade 12, Secondary School pupils whose ages ranged from 16 to 30 years (M = 19.7 yr., SD = 2.5) and who were chosen at random from the total Grade 12 population throughout one region in the Northern Province of South Africa. Measures were of sexual behavior and condom use, knowledge about correct condom use, intention of condom use, behavioral norms, attitudes, normative beliefs, and subjective norms about condoms, HIV/AIDS vulnerability (likelihood to get it) and severity of the illness in the country, and condom use self-efficacy. Bivariate analysis gave positive significant relations among normative beliefs, subjective norms, and attitudes towards condom use as well as HIV/AIDS vulnerability and HIV risk behavior. Regression analysis indicated that for boys, younger age at first vaginal intercourse, less intention for condom use, and HIV/AIDS vulnerability were predictive for HIV/AIDS risk behavior and explained 39% of the variance. It is suggested that these predictors should be included in intervention programs for HIV prevention.

Predicting intention for protective health behaviour: A test of the protection versus the ordered protection motivation model

Tanner and his colleagues (Eppright, Tanner, & Hunt, 1994; Tanner, Day, & Crask, 1989; Tanner, Hunt, & Eppright, 1991) proposed a reformulation of Rogers's (1983, 1984) protection motivation theory to include three major amendments: (a) the inclusion of the emotional component of fear, (b) the sequential ordering of the threat-coping appraisal processes, and (c) the role of maladaptive coping in an ordered protection motivation model. Using HIV/AIDS as the threat communication strategy, the present study tested the structural relationships hypothesised for Rogers's protection motivation model and the reformulated ordered protection motivation model, and evaluated the overall and relative fit of the two competing models in predicting intention for condom use among 248 adults. The results suggested that Rogers's original protection motivation model may be a better representation of the way individuals evaluate health-threat information than the reformulated ordered protection motivation model. Results from path analysis also demonstrated how the emotional component of fear and maladaptive coping modes operated differentially in the two models. Implications for the theory of protection motivation and its use in promoting good health behaviours are discussed.

Beliefs about condoms and their association with intentions to use condoms among youths in detention

Purpose: Youths in detention have been identified as a high-risk group for AIDS. To help inform AIDS-prevention efforts targeted for these youths, we surveyed youths in detention regarding their sexual behaviors, beliefs about condoms, intentions to use condoms, and actual condom use. We examined race and gender differences in these beliefs and behaviors, and we studied the relationship of these beliefs to condom-use intentions. Methods: Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 201 youths in detention who were, on average, 16 years old. The sample was stratified on gender and race (African-American and white), with approximately equal numbers in each group. Results: The results indicate that these youths had engaged in behaviors that put them at high risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted diseases. Although they used condoms somewhat more consistently with casual partners than with their steady partners, the majority did not use condoms consistently with either partner type. Very few race or gender differences were found with regard to condom use, intentions to use condoms, or beliefs about the consequences of using condoms. Beliefs associated with intentions to use condoms with steady partners included protection against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the beliefs that condoms reduce pleasure, are artificial, unromantic, and interrupt sex. In contrast, only the belief that condoms prevent pregnancy was related to intentions to use condoms with casual partners. Conclusion: The results suggest that interventions targeted at African-American and white males and females in detention need not differ greatly in content as long as they include the most salient concerns of each group; that interventions include content on the two protective benefits of condom use (pregnancy and STD prevention), as well as on how to minimize the perceived negative aspects of condom use; that they stress the need for condom use with steady as well as casual partners; and that they stress that anal intercourse is especially risky with regard to AIDS transmission.

Self-efficacy, hedonistic expectancies, and condom-use intentions among inner-city black adolescent women: A social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior

The effects on condom-use intentions of an acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention intervention based on social cognitive theory were investigated among 19 sexually active black adolescent women recruited from an inner-city family planning clinic. The women received the social cognitive intervention designed to increase perceived self-efficacy and favorable outcome expectancies about the hedonistic consequences of using condoms or one of two control interventions: An information-alone intervention designed to increase AIDS knowledge or a general health-promotion intervention designed to provide information about important health problems other than AIDS. All interventions lasted 105 min and involved films and small-group exercises. Participants' evaluations did not differ among conditions. As hypothesized, analysis of covariance indicated that participants in the social cognitive condition reported greater intentions to use condoms than did those in the two control conditions. In addition, participants in the social cognitive condition scored higher in perceived self-efficacy and favorable hedonistic expectancies—the two hypothesized mediators of the intervention effect. Although participants who received the information-alone intervention subsequently had greater AIDS knowledge than did those in the health promotion condition, they did not express greater intentions to use condoms. These results highlight the value of a social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior: outcome expectancies regarding the effects of precautionary practices on sexual enjoyment and perceived self-efficacy to implement such practices play an important role in decisions about condom use.

Increasing Condom-Use Intentions Among Sexually Active Black Adolescent Women

Whether a social cognitive theory AIDS prevention intervention would increase intentions to use condoms among 109 sexually active inner-city black female adolescents was tested. Analyses revealed that the women scored higher in intentions to use condoms, AIDS knowledge, outcome expectancies regarding condom use, and self-efficacy to use condoms after the intervention than before the intervention. Although increased self-efficacy and more favorable outcome expectancies regarding the effects of condoms on sexual enjoyment and sexual partner's support for condom use were significantly related to increased condom-use intentions, increases in general AIDS knowledge and specific prevention-related beliefs were not.

Effects of communication with important social referents on beliefs and intentions to use condoms.

Data from a 1989 survey using the condom attitude and belief instrument with 310 clients from two sexually transmitted disease clinics identified significant social referents who influence condom-use intentions. They are sexual partner, father and friends. The present study found that communication with these referents had a positive net effect on beliefs about and intentions to use condoms. Implications applicable for intervention programmes to increase condom use are to promote talking about condoms between the sexual partners and important social referents and to develop such communication skills.