Community Support for Normalizing Public Discussion about STDs: Results of a Statewide Survey

Background: Little research exists on public attitudes towards open discussion about STDs. A common perception is that this is a sensitive topic that people don’t want to hear/talk about.

Objectives: To assess public norms and perceived needs relating to acceptable local STD education approaches.

Methods: Twenty-eight questions (most using 5-point Likert scale to gauge acceptability and/or agreement) were included in a NYS-specific module for the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a statewide telephone survey (N=3,989 ) of adults using a standardized CDC study design.

Results: All 11 STD prevention messages were acceptable (range 86.3% - 97.7% of respondents) for a local publicity campaign. Explicit message content, e.g., “even in a committed relationship your partner may have other partners you don’t know about”, “increased STD risks for MSM”, and “instructions on how to use a condom”, was lowest rated (86.3%, 90.1%, 91.9% respectively found these messages acceptable.) Of eight communication channels/venues, high schools were most (96%) and billboards least (79.6%) acceptable. Beliefs/perceptions (e.g., disagreement that “most people already know enough about how to protect themselves from STDs” , agreement that “there needs to be more open discussion in our community about…STDs”) showed a high perceived need for STD education. One-third agreed “I need some ideas about how to talk with my sex partner about protection from STDs”, with ~ 50% of Black and Hispanic respondents identifying this need.

Conclusions: A wide range of messages/venues were acceptable for a local publicity campaign. There is strong support/perceived need for more open discussion about STDs across NYS communities.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: These data are useful in demonstrating the need for and acceptability of broad public exposure to STD issues, and for tailored campaigns. Other jurisdictions may want to collect similar data about community norms to share with decision-makers.