The UNAIDS organization (2006) reports 33.4 to 46.0 million people are currently diagnosed with acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) worldwide with 4.1 million being new diagnoses. The sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS can be traced to multiple behavioral risk factors including impulsive sexual behaviors (Sohn & Choi, 2003). The Korean culture has experienced an increase in the percentage of men who have had sexual intercourse with someone other than their partners or wives with the majority of them having had intercourse with sex workers (Choi, Sohn, Kwoen, Lee, & Choi, 2002). Sexual intercourse with non-regular partners has been suggested to be the prominent route for HIV/AIDS transmission
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The ultimate take away from this class is that behavior change promotion needs to be catered to the specific population that it will be applied to. Identifying key characteristics first through the use of the Social Cognitive Theory or Theory of Planned Behavior advances the understanding of the population. Once the health promotion professionals have a thorough understanding of the risk and protective factors affecting the target population, a customized plan can be implemented to target behavior change in that population with the least cost requirement. I chose to compare sex workers and college students in Korea to facilitate this point. Both studies were trying to understand the factors affecting condom use in their population. However, each identifies conflicting factors. The Jeong et al. study acknowledged that female club-workers in Korea had high intentions of using condoms but impersonal factors related to their job prevented them from doing so (2012). In comparison, the Kwon et al. study realized that college students in Korea have no intention of using condoms in their next sexual encounter and that their sexual encounters are in order to increase intimacy with their partner (2008). Both studies primarily surveyed women in Korea who were similar in age yet their risk factors and reasoning for lack of condom use were completely
The ultimate take away from this class is that behavior change promotion needs to be catered to the specific population that it will be applied to. Identifying key characteristics first through the use of the Social Cognitive Theory or Theory of Planned Behavior advances the understanding of the population. Once the health promotion professionals have a thorough understanding of the risk and protective factors affecting the target population, a customized plan can be implemented to target behavior change in that population with the least cost requirement. I chose to compare sex workers and college students in Korea to facilitate this point. Both studies were trying to understand the factors affecting condom use in their population. However, each identifies conflicting factors. The Jeong et al. study acknowledged that female club-workers in Korea had high intentions of using condoms but impersonal factors related to their job prevented them from doing so (2012). In comparison, the Kwon et al. study realized that college students in Korea have no intention of using condoms in their next sexual encounter and that their sexual encounters are in order to increase intimacy with their partner (2008). Both studies primarily surveyed women in Korea who were similar in age yet their risk factors and reasoning for lack of condom use were completely