Marseille 2007
Marseille 2007
Abstract book
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Abstract #622  -  A MODIFIED ITALIAN VERSION OF THE ATTITUDE TOWARD CONDOMS SCALE
Session:
  26.102: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday   in  Chaired by
Authors:
  Presenting Author:   Dr massimo mirandola - Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Italy
 
  Additional Authors:  dr Lorenzo Gios, Dr Sara Carbone, Dr Gianpiero Panni,  
Aim:
Sexually transmitted infections (HIV / STI) and unprotected intercourses have been increasing among MSM (men who have sex with men) over the last few years. Recent evidence underlines the importance of cultural, social and environmental factors in determining attitudes toward condoms use. The aim of the study was to validate the Attitude Toward Condoms Scale (Brief) in the Italian MSM population. The scale was originally meant to measure attitudes toward condom use for birth control in the heterosexual population (Brown, 1984).
 
Method / Issue:
The study design was cross-sectional and the subjects enrolment was carried out in two sites (Verona and Padova) on the basis of a convenience sampling. A preliminary mapping of gay friendly places was carried out to better identify recruitment areas: the survey was administered in saunas, dark rooms, disco-pubs and clubs. The scale was deprived of the items with manifest heterosexual content, translated into Italian, and then back translated into English. Additional items were elaborated in focus groups with subjects selected from the target population. A five-point Likert scale was used for answers coding. The questionnaire was completely anonymous and subjects privacy was guaranteed. The scale was included in a broader self-administered questionnaire aimed to collect information about the target populations socio-demographic,situation, sexual practices, HIV testing and STIs history. An exploratory factorial analysis with Varimax rotation was used. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbachs Alpha.
 
Results / Comments:
The final sample was composed of 313 sexually active MSM. The mean age of respondents was 28.7 (SD 6.6). 67.67% identified themselves as homosexuals, 25.24% as bisexuals. Factor analysis identified one factor with eigenvalues greater than 1 when conducted with the fourteen items. After Varimax rotation, twelve items loaded strongly together on the factor identified, with loadings ranging from 0.40 to 0.77. This factor accounted for 84.9% of the variance. The factor measured the negative attitude toward condom use. From the initial pool of items two were excluded: I dont use condoms because I like taking risks and Condom use is not ethical because their saturation resulted under the minimum level considered (0.4). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87, indicating acceptable homogeneity of the scale.
 
Discussion:
Despite our positive findings further investigation is needed. The modified Italian version of the instrument can be easily employed to test the attitude toward condom use in MSM. Our findings were in line with those of the original validation. The scale seems to be a reliable and valid measure of attitudes toward condoms.
 
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