Condom Use Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors
Condition: Condom Use
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study has three primary goals. First, to design distinct interventions that target the
      three core constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (i.e, attitudes, norms, and perceived
      behavioral control (PBC)). The second goal is to determine which combination of the Theory of
      Planned Behavior constructs is more successful at changing condom use behavior among college
      students. Finally, the investigators will examine the impact change in targeted constructs
      has on those not targeted by an intervention. The current study intends to empirically test
      how the constructs (i.e., attitudes, norms, PBC) in the Theory of Planned Behavior influence
      each other to increase condom use with college students.
    

Detailed description: 
      Theory allows researchers to systematically explain and predict health behavior by providing
      an organized framework to approach research questions; the importance of theory is
      particularly emphasized in meta-analyses demonstrating that interventions designed from the
      basis of health behavior theory are more successful than those that are not theory-based. The
      superiority of theory-based interventions has been established, but these meta-analyses do
      not answer the important questions of which theoretical constructs may be the "active
      ingredients" of change nor of how constructs in a particular theory may work separately
      versus in combination to produce the greatest amount of behavior change. Health interventions
      on the whole have only small to moderate effects on behavior change, and perhaps this is
      partly due to a lack of solid understanding of how key theoretical constructs influence each
      other to motivate behavior change. Often times when a theory is used as the basis for an
      intervention only a subset of the constructs seem to produce behavior change, which calls
      into question the sufficiency of our current theories for producing behavior change. One
      possible reason for this may be that current health behavior theories are really theories of
      behavioral prediction and not behavior change.

      Health behavior theories are often used to inform intervention development-assuming that the
      same cognitive processes that successfully explain behavior are also the same processes that
      can be targeted to elicit behavior change. Past reviews show that theories like the Theory of
      Planned Behavior (TPB) explain 30%-50% of the variance in behavior, and when behavior change
      is the outcome the same predictors only produce small to moderate effects. However, it is
      unclear if the same predictors are working together in a similar way when using them to
      explain behavior versus creating behavior change. Currently, the same cognitive mechanisms
      are used to describe both processes, but those that explain behavior may not be the same ones
      that produce behavior change. There is very little literature that addresses how these
      processes may differ. A careful examination of the extent to which current theoretical
      constructs successfully produce behavior change individually or in combination may help
      clarify the optimal theoretical framework that should be utilized in behavior change
      interventions. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the guiding theoretical
      framework, this study explores one way to experimentally determine how the constructs in the
      TPB influence each other and successfully produce health behavior change.
    

Intervention name(s): Attitudes Only; Norms Only; Perceived Behavioral Control Only; Intentions Only; Three Constructs; Four Constructs
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Condom Use; HIV/STD; Intervention; Theory of Planned Behavior; Dismantling Study Design