AIDS prevention in late adolescent college students from Spain and Portugal

The aim of this study was to determine the factors related to the adoption of effective methods for preventing AIDS, particularly condom use, in university students from Spain and Portugal.

A cross-sectional and cross-cultural study. Data were obtained by questionnaire.

The variables analysed in the sample of Spanish and Portuguese students were: the perceptions of benefits and barriers to condom use; perceived self-efficacy in the negotiation of condom use; and in using a condom in difficult situations; and the perceptions of vulnerability, severity and risk.

The data showed similarities between the Spanish and Portuguese students in the high frequency of condom use and the weight of self-efficacy for negotiating and ensuring condom use. However, data also reflected differences between the countries especially with regard to the weight of benefits and costs in the adoption of prevention methods.

These findings suggest that the different realities for each country or context must be considered in the design of AIDS prevention programmes aimed at late adolescents. Whereas in both countries prevention programmes should encourage the ability to negotiate condom use, Portuguese programmes must underline the benefits of condom use, and Spanish programmes should aim to analyse the importance of barriers to condom use for the students to reduce these and to replace costs with benefits.