Factors shaping condom use among South African university students: a thematic analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate contextual influences on condom use by South African university students. Twenty one-to-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female South African undergraduates. The data were thematically analysed. Results revealed that condom use was transient and often unrelated to disease prevention. Condom use was impeded by closer perceived intimacy, gender dynamics, and social stigma against proposing use of condoms in a presumably committed relationship. Public health policies regarding condom, pill and injection pricing / promotion, and religious toleration also hampered condom use, by encouraging a preference over hormonal contraception or proscribing contraceptive measures altogether. The results provide a basis for considering the impact of immediate and wider social contexts on condom use, as proposed by socio-ecological models of HIV risk behaviour.

Keywords:

• condom use
• context
• social ecology
• South Africa
• thematic analysis
• university students

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Cathy Mathews (Health Systems Research Unit, Cape Town Medical Research Council; School of Public Health and Family Medicine, and Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa) for her comments on an initial version of the manuscript.