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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Timothy Edgar, PhD¹, Seth M. Noar, PhD², and Bryan Murphy¹. (1) Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617-824-8743, timothy_edgar@emerson.edu, (2) Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, 248 Grehan Building, Lexington, KY 40506

Research consistently shows that effective communication between partners is one of the most consistent predictors of whether or not couples use condoms. Researchers also have identified the most common communication strategies that individuals use when attempting to negotiate condom use. Knowing that effective communication is an essential ingredient to condom use contributes greatly to our thinking about the problem, but the knowledge has limited value unless health educators can teach skills to sexually active individuals so that they can implement in risky situations. Over 70 studies have been published that describe the results of interventions that include a communication training component aimed at HIV prevention. There are many insights to be gleaned, but there has been no attempt to systematically review the details of the findings as a whole. This paper provides an analysis of the entire body of literature and addresses the following questions:

What are the types of skills that teams have attempted to teach individuals (e.g., negotiation, refusal skills, assertiveness, nonverbal skills, eroticization of condoms)?

What are the varieties of methods that have been used to teach skills (e.g., traditional instructional formats, diffusion through opinion leaders, interactive technologies)?

What is the evidence that individuals are able to learn skills? And what is the evidence that they can apply the skills outside of the training environment?

How much training is necessary for individuals to learn skills?

What is the evidence that acquisition of skills leads to risk reduction behavior change both in the short and long term?

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, the participant will be able to

• Identify the primary instructional modes through which health educators have taught people sexual communication skills.
• Articulate the primary behavioral outcomes associated with teaching sexual communication skills.
• Identify the appropriate amount of instruction necessary for enhancing an individual's sexual communication skills.

Keywords: Health Communications, HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered