Women’s Reports of Condom Use in Thai Couples under Intensive and Regular STI/HIV Risk Reduction Counseling

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine factors affecting condom use and condom use rates among Thai couples. A cohort of 1,391 reproductive aged women who attended seven family planning clinics in all regions of Thailand and met study eligibility were followed at 3-month intervals for 15-24 months. At each visit, the woman was interviewed about sexual risk behaviors and counseled for sexual risk reduction and condom use. Condoms were provided free of charge. The women were classified into 3 groups according to contraceptive use at baseline: single contraceptive method group, dual methods consisting of contraceptives with condoms, and condoms only. We found that condom use rates were generally low in all contraceptive groups. Significant factors affecting condom use in multivariate analyses included, contraceptive method at baseline, polygynous marriage, higher education, engaging in commercial sex work, multiple sex partners, sex during menses, more frequent sex, laboratory confirmed STIs, husbands spending nights away from home, husbands having sex with other women, and penile ulcers or sores.

The Dynamics of Condom Use with Regular and Casual Partners: Analysis of the 2006 National Sexual Behavior Survey of Thailand

“…Particularly, laborers were found to be significantly associated with the lowest level of condom use. These results are similar to previous research establishing lower levels of condom use among laborers, farmers, and factory workers [28]. However, among men with casual partners, occupations in sales, service, or labor were associated with increased use of condoms, compared to the professional/technical occupations.…”

“…The significance of education in explaining condom use patterns has been established by previous research [28], [29]. Similarly, among men with regular partners, being legally married was associated with much lower condom usage, a finding that is consistent with previous research [4], [30], where to use condom use with a regular partner is viewed as an insult to the partner [8] or representing infidelity [30].…”

Effect of Couples Counselling on Reported HIV Risk Behaviour among HIV Serodiscordant Couples by ART Use, HIV Status and Gender in Rural Uganda

“…While other studies have shown that couples counseling can improve condom-use with the couple dyad participating in the intervention,[ 27 , 28 ] [ 19 – 21 ] [ 29 ] we believe that this is the first study to demonstrate reductions in HIV risk behaviour among men with regards to other sexual partners. This is particularly important in our setting where formal multiple partner relationships, such as polygynous marriages are common, and involving all partners in these relationships may be logistically challenging.…”