HIV/AIDS: Condom Use and Meanings

Correct and consistent condom use is the most effective HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention strategy, other than sexual abstinence, and there is growing interest in fully understanding the individual, dyadic, and interpersonal dynamics and connotations surrounding condom use. Many interventions focused on increasing rates of condom use provide information about its health-protective benefits. A number of successful interventions have focused on increasing the skills and abilities of condom use, self-efficacy to use condoms, and positive attitudes toward condoms (i.e., that having sexual experiences using condoms has positive health benefits), while other interventions have sought to reduce the adverse impact of negative attitudes toward condoms on overall rates of usage (i.e., the attitude that condoms significantly reduce the pleasure of sexual experiences). Prevention of ...