[The effectiveness of an intervention program in the promotion of condom use among sexually transmitted disease patients].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention program in sexually transmitted disease (STD) and condom-related knowledge and promoting condom use among STD patients. METHODS: STD clinic patients were randomly assigned to three groups (A, control group; B, video viewing group; group C, video viewing plus education with talk) after administered with baseline questionnaire. Each patient was then scheduled to complete the questionnaire regarding the change of STD knowledge and use of condom in two weeks and 3 months. RESULTS: Six hundred and forty-eight patients entered the study. More than half of the patients were aware of STD-related knowledge. However the rate of condom use was very low. When having intercourse with the casual sexual partners the percentage of condom use was only 20%. Seventeen per cent of the patients knew nothing about how to use condom correctly. Follow up results showed that the education program increased the knowledge about STD to some degree. However the percentage of condom use in the latest sexual intercourse increased greatly both in intervention and control groups, but more in intervention groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: STD education should be focused on advocating and correcting condom use.