Negotiating safe sex among women of Afro-Surinamese and Dutch Antillean descent in the Netherlands

Madelief Godelieve Barbe Corneille Bertens (1) , Mireille E.G. Wolfers (2) , Bart van den Borne (1) , Herman Schaalma (3)

1 Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion
2 Department of Infectious Diseases
3 Faculty of Psychology, Department of Work & Social Psychology

Safe sex negotiation and communication about sexual risks with partners is important for women to ensure sexual risk reduction. This paper describes the results of a survey on safer sex and negotiation behavior, and the determinants of negotiation with partners among 128 women from Surinamese and Dutch Antillean descent in the Netherlands. The key findings are that 50% of the participants had negotiated sexual risk reduction with their partner, yet only 40% of the women who negotiated safer sex actually claimed practicing safe sex. Participants defined safe sex with steady partners primarily as negotiated safety and monogamy, and safe sex with casual partners primarily as condom use. Intentions to negotiate safer sex with steady partners were related to positive attitudes and perceived injunctive norms towards safe sex negotiation, and educational background. Intention to discuss safe sex with casual partners were primarily related to attitudes and perceived self-efficacy. STI/HIV prevention interventions targeting these women should incorporate awareness-raising of safety in different types of relationships, deciding on the appropriateness of relation-specific sexual risk reduction strategies, and building negotiation skills to accomplish the realization of these strategies.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Madelief Godelieve Barbe Corneille Bertens, Mireille E.G. Wolfers, Bart van den Borne, Herman Schaalma. Negotiating safe sex among women of Afro-Surinamese and Dutch Antillean descent in the Netherlands. AIDS Care, 2008, 20 (10), pp.1211-1216. ⟨10.1080/09540120802009070⟩. ⟨hal-00513461⟩