Previous clinical diagnosis of chlamydia helps patients predict outcome of new chlamydia clinical test

Video Intervention to Increase Perceived Self-Efficacy for Condom Use in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Female Adolescents

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To assess the effects of the Seventeen Days interactive video on young women's perceived self-efficacy for using condoms 6 months after being offered the intervention, relative to a control.

DESIGN

Multisite randomized controlled trial.

SETTING

Twenty participating health clinics and county health departments in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

PARTICIPANTS

Sexually active female adolescents ages 14 to 19 years.

INTERVENTIONS

Seventeen Days (treatment intervention; sex education) vs Driving Skills for Life (control intervention; driving education).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Perceived self-efficacy for condom use.

RESULTS

Participants in the Seventeen Days group reported higher perceived condom acquisition self-efficacy after 6 months than those in the driving group. This finding held after controlling for baseline self-efficacy scores and other covariates.

CONCLUSION

The Seventeen Days program shows promise to improve perceived self-efficacy to acquire condoms among sexually active female adolescents-an important precursor to behavior change.

Adolescent behavior and sexually transmitted diseases: the dilemma of human papillomavirus

Adolescence is a period of physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and moral development that often results in risk-taking behavior. As a consequence, adolescents are at high risk for sexually transmitted disease (STD). Two of the most common STDs in the United States, chlamydia and human papillomavirus (HPV), affect millions of adolescent women. HPV, contrasted with chlamydia, poses a unique challenge to health care providers. In addition to causing genital warts, HPV has been shown to be the causative agent in the development of cervical cancer. Interventions that are effective in decreasing the transmission of chlamydia, such as increasing condom use, are less effective in prevention of HPV. Efforts to increase adolescent awareness of HPV, to increase age of first coitus, and to decrease numbers of sexual partners are more effective for HPV prevention. Early screening for HPV, smoking cessation, and health promotion may be effective in decreasing the incidence of cervical cancer in young women. Nurse practitioners and other primary health care providers need a more holistic approach to the prevention of HPV in adolescent women.