Mason TH, Foster SE, Finlinson HA, Morrow KM, Vining-Bethea S, Seage GR; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1998; 12: 622 (abstract no. 33154).

ABT Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

BACKGROUND: New woman-controlled methods of prevention are urgently needed for women at high risk for HIV. Information on facilitators of and barriers to acceptance of vaginal microbicides for such women is needed. METHODS: 14 focus groups were conducted in 3 cities--Bridgeport, CT; Providence, RI; and San Juan, Puerto Rico: 9 groups totaling 64 women heroin users, crack users, and sexual partners of male drug injectors; 3 groups totaling 24 adult male drug injectors; and 2 groups totaling 17 high sexual risk adolescents. Participants discussed perceptions of risk, experience with HIV risk reduction and contraception, and vaginal spermicide and lubricant products. RESULTS: Facilitating factors include: 1) Interest in and motivation for using woman-controlled methods to prevent sexual transmission of HIV was high among adult women due to a deeply personalized sense of risk and to frustrations with existing options; 2) Males and females report diminished sexual pleasure with condoms as a positive motivator for using alternative anti-HIV products; 3) Women expressed extreme conflict between fear of infection and difficulty insisting on condom use with their steady drug injecting versus casual partners, suggesting a need for woman-controlled products; 4) Lubrication during vaginal intercourse generally held positive associations for males and females. Possible barriers to acceptance include: 1) Females were concerned about what excessive lubrication or discharge might signify to male partners (e.g., infection, infidelity, improper hygiene); 2) Women with multiple sex partners prefer condoms to topical products to ensure removal of ejaculate from their vaginas immediately after intercourse; 3) Sex workers and others who have multiple sex acts in succession expressed concern that repeated applications of vaginal products would produce excessive lubrication and "messiness". These results informed subsequent trials of three products. CONCLUSIONS: Females at high risk of HIV infection through their own and/or their partners' drug use show strong interest in and motivation for using woman-controlled anti-HIV products. Preliminary evidence suggests differences in the priority of acceptability factors for vaginal products used with steady partners as compared with causal and commercial sex partners. Identified facilitators and barriers to product acceptability should be incorporated into the design and dissemination of vaginal microbicide products.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Adolescent
• Adult
• Anti-Infective Agents
• Cities
• Condoms
• Female
• Focus Groups
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Humans
• Lubrication
• Male
• Pharmaceutical Preparations
• Puerto Rico
• Sexual Partners
• Spermatocidal Agents
• Substance-Related Disorders
• Vagina

Other ID:

• 98398797

UI: 102230021

From Meeting Abstracts