Clinical & Health Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
SAHARA J. 2011;8(1):27-32. doi: 10.1080/17290376.2011.9724981.
Past studies have shown that in attempts to prevent HIV, health education yields little change in condom use. The reason may be that education fails to target barriers for changing behaviour. The present controlled pilot study tested whether psychological inoculation (PI) reduces such barriers for using male condoms. Twenty-two Nigerian women with HIV were randomly assigned to receive PI or health education (control). In the PI condition, women learned to refute sentences reflecting barriers against condom use, while controls learned how to use condoms and the consequences of their non-use. Barriers for condom use, self-efficacy to negotiate condom use with partners and actual condom use were self-reported before and one week after interventions. Results revealed that only in the PI group were there statistically significant increases in condom use negotiating self-efficacy and reductions in barriers concerning motivation, sexual satisfaction and partners. Controls reported no statistically significant changes. However, actual reported condom use was unchanged in both groups. Thus, it is feasible to conduct PI interventions in an African sample of HIV patients. Furthermore, PI can reduce cognitive barriers for condom use, while health education yields little changes in such outcomes over time. If replicated in larger samples with longer follow-ups, these findings could eventually have implications for HIV prevention in several world regions.
过去的研究表明，在预防 HIV 方面，健康教育在改变 condom 使用方面收效甚微。原因可能是教育未能针对改变行为的障碍。本对照性试点研究检验了心理免疫（PI）是否能减少使用男用 condom 的这种障碍。22 名感染 HIV 的尼日利亚女性被随机分配接受 PI 或健康教育（对照组）。在 PI 组中，女性学习反驳反映使用 condom 障碍的句子，而对照组则学习如何使用 condom 以及不使用 condom 的后果。在干预之前和一周后，女性自我报告 condom 使用的障碍、与伴侣协商 condom 使用的自我效能感以及实际 condom 使用情况。结果显示，只有 PI 组在 condom 使用协商自我效能感方面有统计学意义的增加，在动机、性满足和伴侣方面的障碍减少。对照组报告没有统计学意义的变化。然而，两组的实际 condom 使用情况都没有变化。因此，在感染 HIV 的非洲患者样本中进行 PI 干预是可行的。此外，PI 可以减少对 condom 使用的认知障碍，而健康教育在这些结果方面随着时间的推移几乎没有变化。如果在更大的样本中进行更长时间的随访，这些发现最终可能会对世界多个地区的 HIV 预防产生影响。
