An Italian survey on how information campaigns about AIDS have changed contraception in young couples. A sectional study and a comparison with the literature.
The purpose of the present investigation was to ascertain whether adolescent had been sensitized by the campaign against AIDS and if their behaviour regarding the use of contraception had changed accordingly. To this end 2,000 questionnaires (of which 1,554 were returned) were distributed to a population aged 13-20 years, recruited from high schools or sporting centers. The results of our survey, which started in 1992 and lasted 15 months, indicate that after the informative campaigns of 1986, contraceptive habits have changed, and at present, the method predominantly used by teenagers (60.6%) at their first sexual intercourse is the condom. The results of the present study have been compared with those of the literature regarding the years previous to our study. In our investigation, only 18.9% of the interviewed used oral contraception vs. 43.3% and 34.50% of those reported in 1980-85 and 1986-89, respectively. Particularly significant is the fact that 11.6% of teenagers used the condom in addition to oral contraception at their first sexual intercourse. In conclusion, we can assert that AIDS campaigns conducted in Italy, starting from 1986, has resulted in an increase of the use of condoms with respect to other methods of contraception.
Aboulkhair
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MN
II Institute of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University La Sapienza, Rome.
Unfer
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V
Costabile
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D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male