Measuring condom use among sex workers in the Dominican Republic
Weir, S.S.; Fox, L.J.; DeMoya, A.; Gomez, B.; Guerrero, E.; Hassig, S.E.
International Journal of Std and Aids 9(4): 223-226
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0956-4624 PMID: 9598750 DOI: 10.1258/0956462981922089Document Number: 273903
Although evaluations of interventions to curtail the spread of HIV rely, to a large extent, on self-reported changes in behavior, the validity of self-reported condom use is difficult to assess. The internal consistency of self-reported condom use was investigated among four convenience samples of commercial sex workers in Puerto Plata (n = 408) and Santo Domingo (n = 604), Dominican Republic, interviewed before and after targeted HIV/AIDS educational programs. Three measures of condom use were assessed: 1) a measure based on reported frequency of use with new clients and regular clients using an always-to-never scale, 2) a measure of use with the most recent 5 clients, and 3) a measure based on a retrospective coital log of use with clients in the past 7 days. In each sample, more women reported "always" using condoms with clients than with each of the past 5 clients. The largest discrepancy was found in the second Puerto Plata sample, where 153 women (76%) reported always using condoms with clients, but only 96 women (47.5%) reported using condoms with each of the past 5 clients. "Sometimes" users were significantly more consistent in their responses than "always" users. Internal consistency was significantly improved (83-89%) when the comparison was limited to use with the most recent 5 clients and use in the past week.