Factores psicosociales asociados a la salud sexual de jóvenes colombianos

Resumo

This doctoral thesis is realized in the style of compendium of publications and is composed of three published articles and two articles submitted to journals indexed in the Scimago journal ranking (Scopus). The objective of the thesis was to perform objective measurements of knowledge about HIV, self-efficacy and attitudes of young people towards condom use in Colombia, for which we made: a) the adaptation and validation of the Condom Use Self-Efficacy scale, b) the measurement of adolescents' knowledge about HIV and other STIs using the HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections Knowledge Scale (KSI), c) Measure and compare attitudes toward condom use among young Colombians and young people from 10 other countries through the Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale (MCAS) and, d) establish the existing biobehavioural interventions in the region to strengthen the access and use of PrEP in Colombia and Latin America for high-risk population groups. All the studies had a large and heterogeneous sample size, an aspect that stood out among their strengths. The global results show the relevance of carrying out processes of adaptation and validation of sexual health measurement scales for the Colombian population, as well as the convenience of innovating in the presentation of results involved in these processes. Regarding the characterization of the young people in the measured variables, important differences are obtained in the results of the tests for men and women, for example, in the CUSES, men score higher than women in the appropriation subscale and lower than women in partner's disapproval. In the KSI, although the scores of the global sample show moderate to low knowledge at a global level, women obtain higher scores in knowledge about the transmission and prevention of STIs and HIV than men. Finally, the results of the MCAS show that regardless of the country of origin, women show more positive attitudes towards condom use than men. These results lead us to remember that highly typified gender roles, benevolent sexism and prejudices associated with female sexuality and women's sexual autonomy have been identified as factors that affect self-efficacy in condom use among women, including their ability to successfully negotiate their use without compromising their relational goals, it is also necessary to implement sex-specific skills training programs to respond to the needs identified from the objective measurements made here.