The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Feasibility study of the home-based exercises for responsible sex (HERS) intervention to promote correct and consistent condom use among young women

Feasibility study of the home-based exercises for responsible sex (HERS) intervention to promote correct and consistent condom use among young women
Feasibility study of the home-based exercises for responsible sex (HERS) intervention to promote correct and consistent condom use among young women

Background: Male condoms are effective in preventing common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy, if used correctly and consistently. However, condom use errors and problems are common and young people report negative experiences, such as reduced pleasure. The Kinsey Institute Home-Based Exercises for Responsible Sex (KIHERS) is a novel condom promotion intervention for young women, which aims to reduce condom errors and problems, increase self-efficacy and improve attitudes towards condoms, using a pleasure-focussed approach. The study objective was to test the operability, viability and acceptability of an adapted version of the KIHERS intervention with young women aged 16–25 years in the United Kingdom (UK) (Home-Based Exercises for Responsible Sex-UK (HERS-UK). Methods: A repeated-measures single-arm design was used, with a baseline (T1) and two follow-up assessments (T2 and T3), conducted 4 weeks and 8 weeks post intervention over a 3-month period. Participants were provided a condom kit containing different condoms and lubricants and were asked to experiment with condoms alone using a dildo and/or with a sexual partner. Ten process evaluation interviews were conducted post intervention. Results: Fifty-five young women received the intervention; 36 (65%) completed T2 and 33 (60%) completed T3. Condom use errors and problems decreased, self-efficacy increased and attitudes towards condoms improved significantly. The proportion of participants who reported using a condom for intercourse in the past 4 weeks increased from T1 (20; 47%) to T2 (27; 87%) and T3 (23; 77%) and using lubricant with a condom for intercourse increased from T1 (6; 30%) to T2 (13; 48%)) and T3 (16; 70%). However, motivation to use condoms did not change. Cronbach’s alpha scores indicated good internal consistency of measures used. Qualitative data provided strong evidence for the acceptability of the intervention. Conclusions: HERS-UK was implemented as intended and the recruitment strategy was successful within a college/university setting. This feasibility study provided an early indication of the potential effectiveness and acceptability of the intervention, and the benefits of using a pleasure-focussed approach with young women. Measures used captured change in outcome variables and were deemed fit for purpose. Future research should explore cost-effectiveness of this intervention, in a large-scale controlled trial using a diverse sample and targeting young women most at risk of STIs.

Condom, Condom use, Intervention
2055-5784
Knights, Nicola
3ea6f0ad-3e08-4409-b743-541bfb534490
Stone, Nicole
39001f79-4193-4106-9490-152c2f018958
Nadarzynski, Tom
218d69a1-d1be-46f4-bead-23071bd4f270
Brown, Katherine
fce5e26b-3ccd-4cee-92b0-573b027eb8bc
Katie, Newby
96e02cc6-1be0-43c2-948c-9ba4c1e74fc5
Graham, Cynthia
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8
Knights, Nicola
3ea6f0ad-3e08-4409-b743-541bfb534490
Stone, Nicole
39001f79-4193-4106-9490-152c2f018958
Nadarzynski, Tom
218d69a1-d1be-46f4-bead-23071bd4f270
Brown, Katherine
fce5e26b-3ccd-4cee-92b0-573b027eb8bc
Katie, Newby
96e02cc6-1be0-43c2-948c-9ba4c1e74fc5
Graham, Cynthia
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8

Knights, Nicola, Stone, Nicole, Nadarzynski, Tom, Brown, Katherine, Katie, Newby and Graham, Cynthia (2021) Feasibility study of the home-based exercises for responsible sex (HERS) intervention to promote correct and consistent condom use among young women. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 7 (1), [145]. (doi:10.1186/s40814-021-00885-1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Male condoms are effective in preventing common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy, if used correctly and consistently. However, condom use errors and problems are common and young people report negative experiences, such as reduced pleasure. The Kinsey Institute Home-Based Exercises for Responsible Sex (KIHERS) is a novel condom promotion intervention for young women, which aims to reduce condom errors and problems, increase self-efficacy and improve attitudes towards condoms, using a pleasure-focussed approach. The study objective was to test the operability, viability and acceptability of an adapted version of the KIHERS intervention with young women aged 16–25 years in the United Kingdom (UK) (Home-Based Exercises for Responsible Sex-UK (HERS-UK). Methods: A repeated-measures single-arm design was used, with a baseline (T1) and two follow-up assessments (T2 and T3), conducted 4 weeks and 8 weeks post intervention over a 3-month period. Participants were provided a condom kit containing different condoms and lubricants and were asked to experiment with condoms alone using a dildo and/or with a sexual partner. Ten process evaluation interviews were conducted post intervention. Results: Fifty-five young women received the intervention; 36 (65%) completed T2 and 33 (60%) completed T3. Condom use errors and problems decreased, self-efficacy increased and attitudes towards condoms improved significantly. The proportion of participants who reported using a condom for intercourse in the past 4 weeks increased from T1 (20; 47%) to T2 (27; 87%) and T3 (23; 77%) and using lubricant with a condom for intercourse increased from T1 (6; 30%) to T2 (13; 48%)) and T3 (16; 70%). However, motivation to use condoms did not change. Cronbach’s alpha scores indicated good internal consistency of measures used. Qualitative data provided strong evidence for the acceptability of the intervention. Conclusions: HERS-UK was implemented as intended and the recruitment strategy was successful within a college/university setting. This feasibility study provided an early indication of the potential effectiveness and acceptability of the intervention, and the benefits of using a pleasure-focussed approach with young women. Measures used captured change in outcome variables and were deemed fit for purpose. Future research should explore cost-effectiveness of this intervention, in a large-scale controlled trial using a diverse sample and targeting young women most at risk of STIs.

Text
Final_ HERS-UK_Main document Accepted 12 July 2021
Download (97kB)

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 27 July 2021
Published date: 27 July 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team for their invaluable advice and for sharing with us the original intervention, the staff at the colleges and universities for their assistance of participants and the young women for their involvement in the study, and Dr. Richard Crosby, Pasante and MyONE Condoms for their support and supply of free condom samples. The research was funded by the MRC Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (PHIND), ID: ID: MR/S002200/1. Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team for their invaluable advice and for sharing with us the original intervention, the staff at the colleges and universities for their assistance of participants and the young women for their involvement in the study, and Dr. Richard Crosby, Pasante and MyONE Condoms for their support and supply of free condom samples. The research was funded by the MRC Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (PHIND), ID: ID: MR/S002200/1. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords: Condom, Condom use, Intervention

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 450653
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450653
ISSN: 2055-5784
PURE UUID: cb3c0412-7a6d-4b25-8e61-13b7b1d7036d
ORCID for Nicole Stone: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0995-8699
ORCID for Cynthia Graham: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-599X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Aug 2021 16:32
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:42

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Nicola Knights
Author: Nicole Stone ORCID iD
Author: Tom Nadarzynski
Author: Katherine Brown
Author: Newby Katie
Author: Cynthia Graham ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×