Attitudes towards condom use for prevention of HIV infection in Botswana

Attitudes to condom use for prevention of HIV infection in Botswana were examined. Data collection was by personal interview of 1349 respondents throughout the country. Alcohol is believed to be the single main barrier to condom use. Others include: beliefs that condoms are not effective, emotional barriers to condom use, cultural traditions and complacency. Men appear to have a greater tendency to agree with beliefs that encourage nonuse of condoms. There was evidence to suggest that a holder of an attitude in one area such as cultural belief is likely to hold a similar attitude in almost all other areas. The implication of this finding for theory development is that attitudes are not independent of each other. The implications for policy action are straightforward: an effective strategy for attacking the negative attitudes should put emphasis on men and be broadly educative in the sense of attacking several attitudes simultaneously, rather than one at a time.