Family Planning NSW, Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia.
Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2021 Feb 19;16(2):e0246664. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246664. eCollection 2021.
The female condom is the only female-initiated form of protection against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections (STIs). However, use of this method in Australia is low. To better understand women's views and experiences of the female condom, we conducted an interventional cross-sectional study.
Cisgender women ≥16 years, heterosexually active and living in New South Wales were recruited through social media advertisements and email invitations to clients of a family planning service. Eligible participants were provided with three female condoms and invited to complete a follow-up survey. Survey responses for women who attempted to use at least one female condom were summarised using counts and proportions.
We recruited 556 women; few (30/556) had used the female condom before the study. There were 284 women who used, or attempted to use, a female condom during the study and completed the follow-up survey. Fifty-one percent (104/205) reported experiencing some difficulty in insertion, although only 46% (130/284) had seen an instructional demonstration. Approximately half (105/204) of women rated the sensation and comfort of the female condom as the same or better than the male condom, and 66% (137/204) reported that it provided the same or better lubrication. Approximately half of women said they would consider using the female condom again for STI prevention (51% (133/260)) or contraception (40% (103/260)), or would recommend to others (43% (112/260)).
Findings highlight the need for increased health promotion and education regarding use of the female condom. To increase access it will be important to address method cost and availability in Australia. Future research should explore other perspectives of this method, including among the LGBTIQ+ community.
女用避孕套是唯一一种女性可主动使用的、用于预防非意愿妊娠和性传播感染（STIs）的避孕措施。然而，在澳大利亚，这种方法的使用率很低。为了更好地了解女性对女用避孕套的看法和体验，我们进行了一项干预性横断面研究。
我们通过社交媒体广告和电子邮件邀请向计划生育服务的客户招募了 16 岁及以上、异性恋活跃且居住在新南威尔士州的顺性别女性。符合条件的参与者获得了三个女用避孕套，并邀请她们完成一份随访调查。对至少尝试使用过一个女用避孕套的女性的调查结果进行了汇总，采用了计数和比例。
我们招募了 556 名女性；在研究前，很少有（30/556）女性使用过女用避孕套。在研究期间，有 284 名女性使用或尝试使用了女用避孕套并完成了随访调查。51%（104/205）的女性报告在插入时遇到了一些困难，尽管只有 46%（130/284）看过使用说明演示。大约一半（105/204）的女性认为女用避孕套的感觉和舒适度与男用避孕套相同或更好，66%（137/204）报告女用避孕套提供了相同或更好的润滑。大约一半的女性表示，她们会考虑再次使用女用避孕套来预防性传播感染（51%（133/260））或避孕（40%（103/260）），或者会向他人推荐（43%（112/260））。
研究结果强调需要加强关于使用女用避孕套的健康宣传和教育。为了增加其可及性，重要的是要解决澳大利亚方法成本和可用性的问题。未来的研究应探讨这种方法的其他观点，包括在 LGBTIQ+群体中。
