Risk Reduction as an Accepted Framework for Safer-Sex Promotion Among Women Who Have Sex With Women

The authors introduced the current study by noting that "safer-sex information for women who have sex with women (WSW) is often very difficult to locate." One of the few Web sites offering such information is girl2girl.info. The current report examines the predevelopment consultation and evaluation of this Web site.

A risk-reduction framework was used in the creation of the site. Girl2girl.info was developed in 2004 using questionnaires and focus group responses from 36 WSW, chiefly in Canberra, Australia. Questionnaires completed by 74 WSW and interviews with 17 health professionals around Australia were used to evaluate the site in 2006-07.

The research indentified certain key attitudes of WSW toward safer sex, "in particular a misperception that the majority of WSW are at low risk for sexually transmissible infections and a consistent aversion to using latex for safer sex."

The authors concluded that "the promotion of a risk-reduction approach -- including non-latex-based safer-sex practices -- for WSW is both a theoretically appropriate and engaging form of health promotion for WSW."

Back to other news for April 2009

Search the Newsroom archive