Factors associated with condom use among young Denver inner city women.

BACKGROUND

Despite the availability of condoms and theoretically based interventions to promote their use, sexually active women aged 15 to 25 years continue to put themselves at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy.

METHODS

One hundred ninety-eight inner city women were interviewed about knowledge and attitudes about condoms. Using the Transtheoretical Model, regression techniques were used to identify factors associated with condom use at last sex and the proportion of acts protected by a condom in the last 90 days.

RESULTS

Constructs including intention to use (OR = 1.69, CI 1.07-2.65) and positive outcome expectancies (OR = 1.59, CI 1.03-2.46) were associated with condom use at last act of sexual intercourse. Similarly, intention to use condoms (RR = 1.58, CI 1.37-1.82), positive outcome expectancies (RR = 2.71, CI 2.41-2.99), perceived peer's use of condoms (RR = 2.25, CI 1.95-2.60), and number of places condoms were discussed (RR 1.05, CI 1.02-1.07) were associated with the proportion of protected acts.

CONCLUSIONS

Constructs specified in the Transtheoretical Model are useful in describing condom use and have implications for targeting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted diseases (STD)/unintended pregnancy interventions.