A PROCESS EVALUATION OF CONDOM AVAILABILITY IN THE SEATTLE, WASHINGTON PUBLIC-SCHOOLS

In 1993, Seattle began making condoms available in all of its 15 high schools. As part of an evaluation of this program, 16 focus groups wit h students from 13 high schools were conducted to explore students' pe rceptions of the school environment, program effectiveness, and sugges tions for program improvement. The study also included data from a stu dent survey conducted in 10 high schools. The focus group results reve aled that students support school condom availability but have concern s about privacy when obtaining condoms. Students prefer obtaining cond oms from baskets in private areas of school-based clinics to obtaining them from vending machines. Students do not believe that having condo ms available has affected sexual activity or condom use among students . Recommendations for improving school condom availability include acc ess to free condoms in private locations.