Condom availability in schools: the need for improved program evaluations.
OBJECTIVE
This article examines the impact of contentious local debates on the design and implementation of school-based condom availability programs.


METHODS
Information about condom availability in schools was reviewed by 50 leading educators and health officials at a 1992 forum held in Menlo Park, Calif.


RESULTS
Few existing condom availability programs were designed to yield definitive data on sexual risk-taking behavior or other measures of program effectiveness.


CONCLUSIONS
In the debate over school-based condom availability programs, as in many aspects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention programs, scientific, moral, and political concerns overlap. Behavioral research into the potential effectiveness of such programs can help inform debates about fundamental values concerning sexual decision making and privacy, family integrity and parental autonomy, and public health.
Stryker
J
J
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco.
Samuels
S E
SE
Smith
M D
MD
D000293:Adolescent; D017280:Condoms; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D009014:Morals; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011639:Public Opinion; D012572:School Health Services