JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Men who have sex with men (MSM) experience a disproportionate burden of HIV infection globally including in Ghana. The use of condoms with lubricants correctly and consistently plays a vital role in reducing the number of new HIV infections among MSM. However, there are concerns about the consistent and correct use of condoms and lubricants among MSM in Ghana. In this regard, there is a need to understand context-specific factors associated with consistent and correct condom use with lubricants.

Objective:

This protocol paper describes a study for determining the current scope of consistent and correct use of condoms with lubricants, associated factors, interventions, user and service-related challenges on correct condom and lubricant use among the MSM population in Ghana.

Methods:

A mixed method study involving retrospective analysis of data from the integrated biological behavioural surveillance survey and mapping population size estimation of 4095 MSM (Ghana Men's Study II) to determine the consistency of the correct use of condoms with lubricants as well as associated factors will be conducted. Further, in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 15–20 stakeholders to understand contextual issues regarding the factors identified, identify existing interventions for correct condom and lubricant usage, user and service-related challenges, and how best to address those challenges from the perspectives of the stakeholders. For qualitative data, thematic analysis will be conducted using Atlas—ti software version 23.1.1. For quantitative data, STATA (College Station, TX, USA, software version 17) will be used. Continuous variables will be reported as means and standard deviations (Means ± SD), and categorical variables as percentages. Multivariate logistic regression analyses will be used to assess associations. All statistical analyses will be done at a 95% confidence interval, with significant differences at P <0.05.

Results:

The qualitative and quantitative results will be triangulated to develop a predictive model to strengthen the correct and consistent use of condoms with condom-compatible lubricants among MSM and other key population groups in Ghana and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa for future pandemic preparedness; policy-making and targeted budget allocation.

Conclusions:

The study has received approval from the University of Johannesburg Research Ethics Committee (REC-2742-2024); and gatekeeper approval from the Ghana AIDS Commission.