MEASURING THE ADOPTION OF CONSISTENT USE OF CONDOMS USING THE STAGES OF CHANGE MODEL

THE STAGES OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE MODEL has been used to understand a vari ety of health behaviors. Since consistent condom use has been promoted as a risk-reduction behavior for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, an algorithm for staging the adoption of consi stent condom use during vaginal sex was empirically developed using th ree considerations: HIV prevention efficacy, analogy with work on stag ing other health-related behaviors, and condom use data from groups at high risk for HIV infection. This algorithm suggests that the adoptio n of consistent condom use among persons at high risk can be meaningfu lly measured with the model. However, variations in the algorithm deta ils affect both the interpretation of stages and apportionment of pers ons across stages.