[Adherence to condom use: the real behavior in the Northeast of Brazil]

Sociodemographic risk factors for gestational syphilis in a maternity hospital in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Objective: to identify risk factors for the acquisition of gestational syphilis. Methods: Coorte study. The participants will perform rapid tests to detect syphilis during pregnancy and hospitalization. Data referring to age, ethnicity, education, and family income were collected in the interview. To investigate factors associated with syphilis infection in the gestational period, binary logistic regression models were run to analyze the crude and adjusted odds ratios for sociodemographic and economic variables. The statistical significance level of 5% was adopted. Results: There was a statistically significant association between syphilis infection and the social class of the patient [χ2 9.821 (4 df); p = 0.05]. The logistic regression model showed that black women had a higher chance of syphilis infection (OR = 2.582; 95% CI 1.068 – 6.243). Conclusion: Low social class and black ethnicity are risk factors for acquiring syphilis during pregnancy.

[Construction and validation of an instrument on the intended use of condoms among socially vulnerable women]

The scope of this article is to build and validate an instrument to measure the intention to use condoms among women in a context of social vulnerability. It involved methodological research, the elaboration stage of which involved 111 women from a previous study, and the content validation stage had 166 participants, including female frequenters of a healthcare service, specialized referees and teachers. In the validation process, the Content Validity Index per Item, General Content Validity Index and Cronbach's Alpha were used. The instrument included 29 items and had a General Content Validity Index of 0.99. The semantic validation resulted in the insertion of pictorial signs in the response scales. The pilot study generated Cronbach's alpha of 0.61 (CI: 0.48-0.72). The validated instrument is a tool that can assist health workers and researchers in predicting condom use, providing input for preventive interventions towards safe sexual practices among women in situations of social vulnerability.

Sexual behaviors and condom use in the Brazilian population: analysis of the National Health Survey, 2019

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research was to describe the sexual behaviors and condom use in the Brazilian population.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study, which used data from 88,531 individuals aged 18 years old or older, who answered the second edition of the National Health Survey carried out in 2019. Prevalence was estimated with the respective 95% confidence intervals for each sexual behavior indicator and condom use according to gender, age, race/skin color, educational level, and region of residence.

RESULTS

The majority of the Brazilian population has had sexual intercourse at some point in their lives (93.9%). Mean age of initiation was 17.3 years. Prevalence of consistent condom use was only 22.8%, being even lower among women (20.9%). Moreover, 59% of the population reported not having used a condom in the past 12 months, the main reason being trusting their partner (73.4%). The use of health services to obtain condoms was only 10.7%. It was observed that women, individuals with a higher age group, less education, and income had worse results in relation to the analyzed indicators, in addition to regional disparities.

CONCLUSION

Low prevalence of condom use was observed in the Brazilian population. In addition, important socioeconomic and demographic disparities were observed, pointing out the need to revisit, strengthen and expand public policies in the sexual and reproductive health field in order to prevent risky sexual behaviors and promote condom use, including double protection.

Live Births and Fertility Amid the Zika Epidemic in Brazil

In late 2015, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organization classified the increase in congenital malformations associated with the Zika virus (ZIKV) as a public health emergency. The risk of ZIKV-related congenital syndrome poses a threat to reproductive outcomes that could result in declining numbers of live births and potentially fertility. Using monthly microdata on live births from the Brazilian Information System on Live Births (SINASC), this study examines live births and fertility trends amid the ZIKV epidemic in Brazil. Findings suggest a decline in live births that is stratified across educational and geographic lines, beginning approximately nine months after the link between ZIKV and microcephaly was publicly announced. Although declines in total fertility rates were small, fertility trends estimated by age and maternal education suggest important differences in how Zika might have impacted Brazil's fertility structure. Further findings confirm the significant declines in live births in mid-2016 even when characteristics of the municipality are controlled for; these results highlight important nuances in the timing and magnitude of the decline. Combined, our findings illustrate the value of understanding how the risk of a health threat directed at fetuses has led to declines in live births and fertility.

Acquiring of knowledge about sexual health by blind people: an action research

Objective:

to evaluate knowledge about sexual health, with blind people, before and after educational intervention.

Method:

action research conducted with 58 blind people enrolled in a philanthropic educational institution. A form with sociodemographic and knowledge variables about Sexually Transmitted Infections was used. The Chi-square and Fisher tests were performed.

Results:

men presented higher frequency of alcoholism (p <0.001) and illicit drugs (p = 0.006). It was found that they used a male condom more frequently than women using a female condom (p = 0.003), although they had more knowledge about the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (p = 0.006). Among these infections, Trichomonas vaginalis (52.4%) was more frequent. Knowledge gaps on risk factors and safe sex were identified. After the intervention, an increase in the knowledge about sexual health was detected.

Conclusion:

the educational intervention, in the light of problematizing pedagogy, (re) constructed the knowledge on sexual health, empowering the participants regarding the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections. Therefore, it is necessary that nurses carry out educational interventions with this clientele, aiming to soften deficits of knowledge about the thematic in screen.