Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr1,2019 | Page 11

Margret Lindberg, Magnus Lindberg, Ann-Britt Ivarsson and Annsofie Adolfsson – Attitudes to Risky Behaviour Among Young Adults
Treated for Chlamydia at an STI Clinic: A Qualitative Study
viour, by not using condoms. Many people who contract an
STI have had a false sense of security; feeling that they could
not contract an infection because they “know and trust their
partner.” (8).
In spring 2006, the Swedish Public Health Institute published
a report entitled “Youth and Sexuality” (7); a review of 90
research studies, which showed that, in general, people take
higher risks in sexual contacts currently than in earlier de­
cades. Young people have a more permissive attitude towards
sexual contacts and many engage in riskier behaviour when
using alcohol (The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease
Control; SMI; 9).
One Internet-based study, commissioned by the Swedish
government, found that, in the 15–29 years age-group, those
who lived in more socially deprived communities engaged in
riskier sexual behaviour, and only 50% of these young peo-
ple used condoms when engaging in sexual behaviour with
new or casual partners. This study also showed that twice as
many young adults were infected with STIs compared with
the teenage group. The reason for this is that teenagers are
provided with free and confidentially distributed condoms by
youth health clinics, whereas young adults do not qualify for
such assistance (10).
A study on condom usage with 4,062 participants (of whom
1,062 were from Sweden) was published in 2016. Comparison
with a similar study conducted in 2013 determined that con-
dom usage had fallen by 5% in the 21–35 years age-group (11).
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the risky beha­
viour of individuals who consulted the STI clinic for an STI
test and were diagnosed with a CT infection.
M ethod
This is a qualitative study with an inductive approach. The
aim of a qualitative study is to describe, explain and create
deeper understanding of lived experience.
In qualitative research the result does not come from statisti-
cal processes or quantitative approaches. Instead, the results
often provide descriptions and stories of social, emotional
phenomena. The aim is to understand the characteristics
and differences described by people when they are in dif-
ferent contexts, situations and environments. Often, the
focus is on a single, or just a few, phenomenon. Knowledge
is gained on a deeper, more detailed level and can provide a
better understanding of phenomena than can be captured
quantitatively. Qualitative research can be used to investigate
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2019, Vol. 24, No. 1
people’s perceptions, experiences and opinions in relation to
a particular phenomenon. This entails seeking understanding
and creating an idea of what is being investigated. The criti-
cism that is often made of qualitative studies is the difficulty
of generalizability. Instead, the concept of transferability can
be used. Transferability is usually defined as similarity between
different contexts. Whether a study is conducted using a
qualitative or quantitative method, there may be limitations
in transferability. Therefore, the selection strategy is equally
important in both types of study (12).
The qualitative research methodology offers a number of poss­
ible approaches, such as grounded theory, phenomenology
and content analysis. The choice of method is determined by
the aim of the study (12).
The method used in the current study was qualitative content
analysis, based on the ideas of Krippendorff (13). The method
was described in detail by Graneheim & Lundman (14). This
study included 18 participants aged 18–30 years, who visited
an STI clinic and who were confirmed to have a chlamydia
infection.
This study, conducted from October 2013 to May 2014, used
a qualitative interview method (12, 15) and was performed at
the STI clinic of the University Hospital in Örebro, Sweden.
The study was approved by the Regional Ethics Committee,
Uppsala, 2009/322.
Participants
Patients at an STI clinic aged 18–30 years where included,
and who were confirmed to have a chlamydia infection.
Only patients confirmed to have a chlamydia infection were
invited to join the study. Both men and women were included
consecutively.
The clinic nurse asked the patients about participation. They
were provided with verbal and written information regarding
the study. If a patient agreed to participate, he/she signed a
consent form and an appointment for an interview, which
took place in a private and confidential room at the STI
clinic. Twenty participants were invited to participate and all
accepted. Twenty interviews were conducted, but two were lost
due to technical problems during recording. The remaining
18 interviews were processed using content analysis (13, 14).
All participants were guaranteed full confidentiality and were
informed that they could discontinue participation at any time
if they wished. All participants were completely unknown to
the interviewer at the time of the interviews.
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