The Effect of Sexual Health Education on Men’s Attitudes Towards Condom Use Among Youth Group in Jos, Nigeria

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Globally, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually transmitted infections continue to pose a significant public health challenge, with far-reaching personal and social consequences.To address these challenges, prioritizing a primary prevention strategy is crucial, the most widely supported strategy is condom use.This study aimed to determine the effect of health education on men's attitudes towards condom use in Jos, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This is a quasi-experimental study utilizing 115 respondents as the sample.All the participants are members of the town fellowship youth group.In line with previous studies and the Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale, a sociodemographic questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS:The majority were sexually active and had their first sex at the age of 18 years and below.In four out of the five attitude sub-scales (effectiveness, stigma, embarrassment about negotiation, and purchasing condoms), the results suggest a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores for these sub-scales (p<0.01).In comparing the pre and post-test scores for the pleasure associated with condom use, the results showed a non-statistically significant (p<0.06)difference even with the mean post-test increase. CONCLUSION:It is evident that providing sexual health education to the young sexually active men in this study has a positive effect and increases their attitude towards partner negotiation tactics and condom use.Further research is needed with a larger sample and a broader geographical area to help improve understanding of sexual health practices such as attitudes and pleasure associated with condom usage.