Interventions targeting social cognitive determinants of condom use in the general Sub-Saharan population: A Systematic Review

Background: Health education alone has a limited impact on HIV prevention programs, possibly because it does not systematically target social and cognitive factors that affect condom use. Objectives: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and methodological quality of HIV prevention interventions, which targeted factors related to social cognitive models (SCM) in the Sub-Saharan context. Method: Ten online databases were searched using prespecified terms. Data extraction and quality assessment (on a 0-8 scale) were carried out and study results were critically described. Results: Eight studies meeting the inclusion criteria were identified and reviewed. Three interventions showed significant effects on condom use. The most targeted SCM factors were communication skills and self-efficacy. The average methodological quality score was 5.75. Conclusion: There is a need to use other intervention methods targeting SCM determinants of condom use and to improve the quality of the assessment tools, to increase condom use towards HIV prevention.