Prevalence and associated factors of behavioral intention for risk compensation following voluntary medical male circumcision among male sexually transmitted diseases patients in China

ABSTRACT

Risk compensation was an important concern of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) promotion campaigns. No study investigated risk compensation following VMMC among male sexually transmitted diseases patients (MSTDP). A cross-sectional survey interviewed 308 uncircumcised MSTDP in Shenzhen, China. 26.9% of them intended to perform at least one of the five types of risk compensation behaviors following VMMC. In the summary stepwise model, provision of incorrect response to HIV/sexually transmitted diseases knowledge items (multivariate odds ratios (ORm) = 2.30), genital herpes infection (ORm = 3.19), Risk Reduction Score for Unprotected Sex, and Negative Condom Attitudes Scale (ORm = 1.13) were significantly associated with behavioral intention to perform at least one type of risk compensation behavior following VMMC. The results provided a framework for developing related interventions. Prevention of risk compensation should be an essential component of VMMC promotion for all MSTDP, irrespective of their intention for VMMC.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral intention of risk compensation
• voluntary medical male circumcision
• risk perceptions
• attitude toward condom use
• male sexually transmitted diseases patients
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81373054].