Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr1,2019 | Page 12

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
Table I. Interview guide
Background
1. Reason for visiting the STI clinic?
2. Previous STI tests?
3. Previous STIs?
4. How many sexual contacts did you have in the last year and
what did you know about your partners?
Theme
5. In what way do you establish new contacts? Internet, restaurant,
friends…
6. Do you feel that you expose yourself to risks in sexual
relations? Explain and tell me your thoughts. What does the
concept of such risks mean to you? Describe.
7. Do you expose yourself to risks ordinarily? Describe.
8. Do you use alcohol or drugs? If so, to what extent? Has this
influenced you in any way in your choices?
9. Use of condoms? Information (STI)?
Data collection
The interview guide for this qualitative study (Table I), covered
the following areas: reason for visit, previous STI tests, previous
STIs, number of partners in the last year, how the contacts
were created in new relationships, if the participants felt they
exposed themselves to risks in these sexual relations and what
the concept of such risks implies. Is risk-taking part of their life
philosophy in general? What was the relationship of alcohol
and drugs in the risk-taking behaviour? Did alcohol/drugs have
any influence on the behaviour? Additional questions were
about condom usage and how the participants had received
information about STIs. The interviews were recorded on tape.
The participants were anonymous in the recordings, which
were transcribed verbatim by a secretary for further analysis
(14). Background data of the interviewees are shown in Table II.
Table II. Background data for the participants at an STI clinic
in the central of Sweden
Sexual
partners last Previous
Informant Age Sex 12 months
STI tests Previous Reason for
STIs
contact
1 23 F 13 Yes Yes
Prompted
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18 21
24
28
20
19
25
23
24
28
29
21
23
27
26
29
28
24 F
M
F
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
M
M
F
F 2
5–6
3
5
4
3
6
12
Unsure
6
12
4–5
3
Do not know
1
3
6 No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Prompted
Symptoms
Prompted
Check-up
Check-up
Prompted
Check-up
Check-up
Check-up
Symptoms
Prompted
Check-up
Check-up
Prompted
Prompted
Check-up
Check-up
STI: sexually transmitted infection; M:male; F: female.
meaning-bearing units were further developed into groups of
codes and abstracted categories.
The categories describe the manifest content of the transcripts
of all the interviews (Table II). To describe the latent content of
the interviews, sub-themes were formed and, finally, the theme
was identified. The analysis of the transcript was performed
using qualitative content analysis based on the method by
Graneheim & Lundman (14).
Data analysis
In the study group, 16 of the patients had previously tested
negative for infections. Among these were 3 patients who test-
ed themselves regularly online. Five of the patients previously
tested had been tested once before, 3 patients had been tested 3
times before and 5 patients had been tested more than 3 times.
The number of sexual partners that patients had had contact
with during the last year ranged from one to 13 (see Table I).
The transcribed interviews were read several times by the
author in order to gain a comprehensive impression of the
interviews. Codes were written in the margin. A summary of
each interview was compiled. The codes were extracted to a
code document (16) and then searches were made for parts
of the text relevant to the aim. Meaning-bearing units were
extracted from the texts that were assessed as relevant. The
10
D ermato -V enereology in the N ordic C ountries
R esults
The theme of this study was “Risk-taking in sexual behaviour.”
This theme is made up of five sub-themes: (i) Meeting unfa-
miliar people at a bar or online; (ii) The resulting relationship
is casual and the parties will probably not meet again; (iii)
When alcohol is in the mix, judgement is impaired; (iv) Us-
ing condoms is embarrassing and awkward; (v) Drugs use is
minimal among participants in the study, but more common
in society in general (Table II).
Meeting unfamiliar people at a bar or online
The study participants made initial contact with potential sex
partners in a variety of ways. Contacts were made through
social networks, through friends and acquaintances, at parties
or bars. Another major factor is online contacts with strangers.
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2019, Vol. 24, No. 1