2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

334767
How young women make decisions about condom use


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 1:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Nancy Daley Moore, MPH, CPH, Department: Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Ashley Lima, MPH, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Miranda Iverson Hill, MPH, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Jessica Legge Muilenburg, PhD, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Among women, public health aims to increase condom use via skill building strategies and increasing awareness. Yet young women continue to show disproportionate rates of disease and unplanned pregnancies, which are preventable by condom use. Through in-depth interviews, this study examined eleven women’s experiences with condom use including how women initiated condom use, how women perceived condoms, and the condom barriers young women experience. When initiating condom use, the women went through a decision making process. The following four themes were identified as part of the decision making process: gendering of condom use, fear of pregnancy, assessment of cleanliness and monogamy, and pleasure. Rather than limit condom use campaigns to skill-building, future programs should work to address these four elements and help women take ownership of condom use.

Learning Areas:

Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related education
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the various ways women make decisions about using condoms. Describe the roles of pregnancy fears, gender roles, and sexual pleasure have in guiding women's decisions to use condoms.

Keyword(s): Contraception, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a sexual health researcher concerned with documenting and understanding the barriers women face regarding safe sexual practices. For the past 4 years, I have worked on various projects related to college students' and college women's sexual health, and I have developed, implemented, and evaluated a sexual health intervention for college women.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4253.0: Thinking about condoms