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A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana

The use and sale of sexual enhancement drugs (particularly unapproved aphrodisiacs) have become a public health concern in Ghana and many other sub-Saharan African countries. While most studies have examined this phenomenon from the level of individual perspectives, this study investigates the multi...

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Autores principales: Amoah, Padmore Adusei, Adjei, Stephen Baffour, Arthur-Holmes, Francis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180177/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682105
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116521
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author Amoah, Padmore Adusei
Adjei, Stephen Baffour
Arthur-Holmes, Francis
author_facet Amoah, Padmore Adusei
Adjei, Stephen Baffour
Arthur-Holmes, Francis
author_sort Amoah, Padmore Adusei
collection PubMed
description The use and sale of sexual enhancement drugs (particularly unapproved aphrodisiacs) have become a public health concern in Ghana and many other sub-Saharan African countries. While most studies have examined this phenomenon from the level of individual perspectives, this study investigates the multi-dimensional and multi-level factors (e.g., individual characteristics and behaviours, interpersonal factors, community norms and practices, institutional and public policy factors) that influence attitudes, perceptions, and use of aphrodisiacs among men and women in Ghana. Using a concurrent mixed-method design, we derived the data from a semi-structured interview and cross-sectional survey conducted across five administrative regions in Ghana. Interpretative phenomenological analysis and logistic regression techniques were used to analyse the qualitative and quantitative (survey) data, respectively. Approximately 12.6% of participants (17.6% among males and 7.2% among females) had used an aphrodisiac in the six months prior to the study. Approximately 23.4% of the participants had more than one partner during the same period. Among men, being religious (B = −0.238, p < 0.05) and having multiple sexual partners (B = 0.481, p < 0.01) were positively associated with the use of aphrodisiacs. For women, being employed (B = −1.539, p < 0.01), engaging in physical activities (exercising) (B = −0.658, p < 0.05), having good health (B = 0.869, p < 0.05), having multiple sexual partners (B = 1.191, p < 0.01), and taking alcohol (B = 1.041, p < 0.01) were associated with use of aphrodisiacs. Although many participants had used aphrodisiacs, women, in particular, held unfavourable views about the drugs due to perceived negative health implications for themselves and their partners. The findings also show that community-level factors (e.g., social norms and expectations), interpersonal factors (e.g., expectations of partners and friends), public policy (e.g., drug-related regulations), and organisational/institutional factors (e.g., health system arrangements about access and use of drugs) were critical to the sale and use of aphrodisiacs among both men and women in Ghana. A multi-level analysis of the use of sexual enhancement drugs among men and women is crucial to formulating social and public health policies that aim to improve public knowledge of these drugs, reduce uncontrolled production, and protect population health and well-being.
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spelling pubmed-91801772022-06-10 A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana Amoah, Padmore Adusei Adjei, Stephen Baffour Arthur-Holmes, Francis Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The use and sale of sexual enhancement drugs (particularly unapproved aphrodisiacs) have become a public health concern in Ghana and many other sub-Saharan African countries. While most studies have examined this phenomenon from the level of individual perspectives, this study investigates the multi-dimensional and multi-level factors (e.g., individual characteristics and behaviours, interpersonal factors, community norms and practices, institutional and public policy factors) that influence attitudes, perceptions, and use of aphrodisiacs among men and women in Ghana. Using a concurrent mixed-method design, we derived the data from a semi-structured interview and cross-sectional survey conducted across five administrative regions in Ghana. Interpretative phenomenological analysis and logistic regression techniques were used to analyse the qualitative and quantitative (survey) data, respectively. Approximately 12.6% of participants (17.6% among males and 7.2% among females) had used an aphrodisiac in the six months prior to the study. Approximately 23.4% of the participants had more than one partner during the same period. Among men, being religious (B = −0.238, p < 0.05) and having multiple sexual partners (B = 0.481, p < 0.01) were positively associated with the use of aphrodisiacs. For women, being employed (B = −1.539, p < 0.01), engaging in physical activities (exercising) (B = −0.658, p < 0.05), having good health (B = 0.869, p < 0.05), having multiple sexual partners (B = 1.191, p < 0.01), and taking alcohol (B = 1.041, p < 0.01) were associated with use of aphrodisiacs. Although many participants had used aphrodisiacs, women, in particular, held unfavourable views about the drugs due to perceived negative health implications for themselves and their partners. The findings also show that community-level factors (e.g., social norms and expectations), interpersonal factors (e.g., expectations of partners and friends), public policy (e.g., drug-related regulations), and organisational/institutional factors (e.g., health system arrangements about access and use of drugs) were critical to the sale and use of aphrodisiacs among both men and women in Ghana. A multi-level analysis of the use of sexual enhancement drugs among men and women is crucial to formulating social and public health policies that aim to improve public knowledge of these drugs, reduce uncontrolled production, and protect population health and well-being. MDPI 2022-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9180177/ /pubmed/35682105 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116521 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Amoah, Padmore Adusei
Adjei, Stephen Baffour
Arthur-Holmes, Francis
A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title_full A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title_fullStr A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title_short A Social–Ecological Study of Perceptions and Determinants of Sexual Enhancement Drug Use among Men and Women in Ghana
title_sort social–ecological study of perceptions and determinants of sexual enhancement drug use among men and women in ghana
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180177/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682105
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116521
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