Condom instruction, if abstinence fails

OXFORD, England, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Teaching adolescents to use condoms when abstinence fails is a reasonable strategy for preventing HIV, a British review of studies found.

Kristen Underhill, of the University of Oxford in England, and colleagues screened more than 20,000 research reports to identify 39 studies of abstinence-plus programs including more than 37,000 North American youth, typically in schools, community facilities and healthcare settings.

The study, published in PLoS Medicine, found that 23 of these reports showed a beneficial effect on at least one sexual behavior reported by the participating adolescents, including increased abstinence, more condom use and less unprotected sex.

No report found that participants who were taught "abstinence plus" increased their risk by starting to have sex at an earlier age, or by decreasing their condom use when they did have sex. The study also found limited evidence that some abstinence-plus programs can reduce pregnancy rates among teenage girls.

Overall, the study suggests that abstinence-plus approaches do not undermine program messages encouraging abstinence, nor do they undermine program messages encouraging safer sex, said Underhill.