Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

3760

Date

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Concentration

Experimental Psychology

Committee Chair

Idia B Thurston

Committee Member

Theresa M Okwumabua

Committee Member

Robert Cohen

Committee Member

David A Houston

Abstract

College students frequently report not using condoms, placing them at risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. This study aimed to investigate the preliminary efficacy, acceptability, and feasibility of The Condom Carnival, a novel, brief, interactive, culturally-tailored, and peer-led sexual risk reduction group intervention for college students. A longitudinal, randomized controlled trial was utilized to compare the efficacy of the Condom Carnival to an education-only control condition (HIV/STI 101) and a treatment control condition (VOICES/VOCES, a CDC effective behavioral intervention). To encourage college students to increase their condom use and lower their sexual risk, the Condom Carnival has three specific aims: 1) address knowledge deficits in sexual health information, 2) improve condom-related self-efficacy, and 3) increase awareness of risky sexual behaviors. Due to the interactive, skills-based, and peer-led nature of the Condom Carnival, we hypothesized that participants would report greater efficacy and acceptability of the Condom Carnival compared to the other interventions. Undergraduate and graduate students were trained as Condom Carnival peer-facilitators. 119 undergraduates, aged 18-57 year (M = 21.8), were recruited for this study. Student were 77% Female, 52% Black, 42% White, 6% Latino, and 1% Asian. All questionnaires (pre-, post-, and follow-up) were administered online. Two-way Mixed ANOVAs, McNemar's tests, and a One-way ANOVA were used to examine the interventions' comparative efficacy and acceptability; frequencies were examined to determine the feasibility of Condom Carnival activities. The Condom Carnival had higher acceptability ratings and performed better than the education-only condition in teaching participants about lubricant safety and correct condom use skills. The Condom Carnival had equivalent acceptability and efficacy as VOICES/VOCES in teaching sexual health information (HIV and lubricant safety knowledge), improving facets of condom-related self-efficacy (condom negotiation strategies and correct condom use skills), and increasing awareness of risky sexual behaviors (lowering number of sexual partners, decreasing general sexual risk, and increasing safe sex behaviors). All Condom Carnival participants engaged in every activity, thus displaying excellent feasibility. The Condom Carnival, with its scalability, has utility for teaching college students sexual risk reduction and condom use promotion. This study is promising for intervention researchers, community preventionists, and campus service providers.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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