ABSTRACT
The condom has been and will remain the major technology to limit sexual transmission of HIV in the foreseeable future, and thus issues related to its acceptance and use are a priority. Since the isolation of HIV, the establishment of its primary modes of transmission, and the development of HIV/AIDS prevention programs, hundreds of studies have been undertaken on the male condom. These include cross-sectional KABP (knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and practices) studies of condom and/or other HIV prevention strategies, condom interventions and evaluations, and recently, ethnographic studies that document the social, cultural and interpersonal contexts of safer sex and condom use. This paper surveys articles published in biomedical and social science journals from 1985 to early 1994.1 In reviewing this literature, we examine critically the research assumptions and construction of categories used, and draw attention to inconsistencies in findings and inferences.
