Spanish validation of female condom attitude scale and female condom use in Colombian young women

BACKGROUND: Infection by HIV and other STIs and unplanned pregnancies are among the most serious problems associated with sexuality. Male and female condoms are the only dual-purpose devices to control both unplanned pregnancies and STIs, and studying people’s attitudes toward the use of these devices are excellent ways to predict their use. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to adapt and validate the Female Condom Attitude Scale for Spanish language and to evaluate the use of female condoms in Colombian population. METHODS: For that purpose, a total of 387 Colombian women aged 23.68 years in average were asked to respond to the Female Condom Attitude Scale, the Sexual Opinion Survey, and the UCLA Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale. RESULTS: The use of female condom in Colombia is very low; only 5.10% of the surveyed women had used it at least once. On the other hand, results revealed a five-factor dimensionality (Sexual pleasure enhancement, Inconvenience, Improved prophylaxis, Sexual pleasure inhibition, and Insertion reluctance) with alphas between .81 and .96. The scale also showed adequate psychometric properties and criterion validity. No relationship was found between attitudes toward female condom and attitudes toward male condom. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish adaptation of the Female Condom Attitude Scale was found to be reliable and valid in a sample of young women.