Safe Sex Communication for Young People in China - Essay Example

Sheeran, Abraham, & Orbell (1999) and a meta- analysis by Noar, Carlyle, & Cole (2006) found communication about condom use, which can be the most effective way for sexually active individuals to protect themselves from STDs including HIV, to be the strongest predictor of condom use. China is suffering one of the fastest growing of HIV epidemics in the world, with an annual 30% increase (Webber, 2007). Among the reported HIV infections, about 81% were young people between the ages of 20-39 (Qi, 2002).

One primary factor fueling the spread of HIV is the increase in unsafe sexual behaviors. Hence it is vital to encourage the Chinese young population to engage in communication about safe sex and condom use. In this study, two theories that have been used to explore safe sex communication successfully in the US will be examined from the perspective of the young Chinese population: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) developed by Ajzen (1991), and the Information Motivation Behavioral Skills Model (IMB) developed by Fisher and Fisher (1992).

The determination will be made of how they could be used to successfully the young Chinese population to engage in more active safe sex communication and condom use. This paper begins with an overview of the. g this, the Information-Motivation-Behavior Skills Model (IMB), suggesting that information, motivation and behavioral skills are the three essential factors in achieving behavior change, will be examined. Finally, the application of the two theories to the young Chinese population in terms of safer sex communication and condom use will be presented.

They will be compared and contrasted, and recommendations regarding the effective use of the two theories in Chinese young population will be offered. An evaluation of 10 million Chinese people will be infected with HIV by 2010 in the absence of effective preventions (UNAIDS, 2004). However, few studies have investigated safer sex behavior among the young Chinese population. Of the limited studies in this area, results indicate that it is largely uncommon to conduct safer sex behaviors, and the use of condom remains consistently low (Wong & Tang, 2001).

For instance, among a total of 455 surveyed Chinese college students in Hong Kong, 24% were sexually active while only 38.2% of them using condom regularly during the year (Wong & Tang, 2001). In another study, only 14.4% of the subjects were found using condoms regularly during sex intercourse, while almost 30% (28%) had never or almost never used condoms (Wang, & Zhang, 2002). Cottrell et al. (2005), which investigated Chinese college student's sexual and HIV knowledge, found that less than half of the student (43%) had used a condom the last time they had sex.

Condom use, however, was found to be the only reliable method of protection for STD/HIV for those who are sexually active (Bryan, Fisher, & Fisher, 2002). Researchers have found that consistent and correct condom use can reduce the rate of HIV transmission by 87% (Bobrova, Sergeev, Grechukina, & Kapiga,