Abstract
Eight focus groups consisting of all male, all female and mixed male and female drug users were conducted to gain an indepth understanding of beliefs and behavior regarding the use of family planning services and contraceptives, particularly condom use in an effort to reduce the perinatal transmission of HIV. While participants often supported the use of condoms because of STDs and AIDS, their unplanned pregnancies and STD histories indicated inconsistent use, depending on the partner and the circumstances. The vast majority of both men and women did not like to use condoms because it interfered with the spontaneity and pleasure of sexual relations, though women seemed more willing to use condoms than their partners.
Participants varied in their knowledge about the benefits of using a condom, in how and when to put it on, in the associations they made between condom use and trust and commitment, in the type of partner and conditions under which they would use condoms and in their willingness to consider condom use as an integral part of their lives.
Issues of trust, commitment and condom use did not seem to have been resolved in the drug using community, particularly among younger people who appeared to have more difficulty in negotiating condom use. Promoting the use of condoms needs to be considered as part of a larger, multifaceted behavior change effort.
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Regina H. Kenen is Professor of Sociology, Trenton State College, Trenton, N.J. Kay Armstrong is Director of Research, Family Planning Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
This three year project #U62/CCU306165-01 is funded by the Centers for Disease Control, Division of Prevention Services, to the Family Planning Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia's Coordinating Office of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs.
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Kenen, R.H., Armstrong, K. The why, when and whether of condom use among female and male drug users. J Community Health 17, 303–317 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01324360
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01324360