The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47669

Hieu M. Ngo, MPH¹, Claire Brindis, DrPH², M. Antonia Biggs, PhD², Marjorie Singer, MA¹, and Janet N. Treat, PHN, MN³. (1) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143-0936, 415-476-8622, hngo@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143-0936, (3) Office of Family Planning, State of California Department of Health Services, 714 P Street , Suite 440, Sacramento, CA 95814

In California, access to publicly funded family planning services for low-income males has increased substantially in the past few years. However many men, unaware that they are eligible for free reproductive health and family planning services including STI services, are not utilizing such services. The purpose of this study is to understand male attitudes and reasons for using or not using condoms to design better services to meet the reproductive health needs of males. As part of a larger ongoing evaluation of California's publicly funded family planning program, 9 focus groups were conducted with 64 low-income African American, Latino, and Non-Latino white males to find out their condom attitudes and behaviors. Findings show that African American and non-Latino white males were more likely to have positive attitudes toward condoms than Latinos. While participants across ethnic groups reported they have unprotected sex and are less likely to use condoms with main rather than casual partners, they also reported on the benefits of using condoms. They cited that condoms can be used to help persuade a partner into having sex and condoms also increased sexual pleasure by prolonging sexual intercourse. While participants reported using condoms to prevent both pregnancy and STIs, younger males of all ethnic backgrounds were more likely than older males to be more concerned about pregnancy than STIs. More creative and innovative condom promotion messages, expanding upon traditional pregnancy and STI prevention messages, are needed to entice males and their partners to use condoms and to use them consistently.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Describe condom attitudes among low-income men of different ethnicities toward condom and condom use.
• 2. Describe condom behaviors and motivations for using condoms among low-income males of different ethnic and age groups.

Keywords: Male Reproductive Health, Condom Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.