Condom use across casual and committed relationships: The role of relationship characteristics.

BACKGROUND: While the existence of a complex variety of casual sexual relationships (CSRs) has been acknowledged, studies rarely describe the prevalence of condom use across these relationships or how their hybrid nature, specifically relationship characteristics, affect condom use. This study aims to describe condom use within committed relationships and various types of casual sexual relationships (CSRs), examining the influence of relationship characteristics on condom use among culturally validated relationship types (committed, friends with benefits, hookups, booty call). METHODS: Emerging adults (N = 728, 18-29 years, M = 22.56; SD = 3.01) completed a survey with four blocks: sociodemographics; brief sexual history; relationships over the previous year; and current relationship, assessing relationship type, ten relationship characteristics (e.g., commitment, emotional and sexual exclusivity, partner acquaintance, sexual involvement) and condom use (vaginal, oral, and anal), operationalized by three measures (use at last encounter, likert-type scale and percentage of use). RESULTS: The results showed patterns in condom use by relationship type and illuminated how relationship characteristics-grouped into three factors: commitment, intimacy, and sexuality-mediate condom use. Condom use was more frequent in vaginal than anal and oral sex, and less frequent in committed relationships. No significant differences were found in condom use in vaginal sex between committed relationships and hookups, with condom in these relationships being significantly lower than in booty call. Intimacy mediated between all contrasts tested and condom use in vaginal sex, while sexuality mediated between committed vs. CSRs and condom use in anal and oral sex. CONCLUSIONS: Findings point to the need of considering the diversity of CSRs for understanding condom use and highlight the role of intimacy as a relevant mechanism associated with condom use in vaginal sex and of sexuality in oral and anal sex, which should be taken into consideration in the tailoring of health promoting efforts.

Cuidados de enfermagem e as causas de reinternamento: perceção de enfermeiros de perioperatório / Nursing care and the causes of readmission: perceptions of perioperative nurses

Os reinternamentos hospitalares são, em regra, efeitos indesejados para as pessoas, para as famílias, para as instituições e para toda a comunidade. São sinónimo de acréscimo de custos/gastos para as instituições hospitalares e de eventuais problemas no processo de cuidados. Por cada doente readmitido, há uma oportunidade perdida de tratar outra pessoa. Nesta investigação pretendemos encontrar uma ligação entre a efetividade dos cuidados prestados no perioperatório e os reinternamentos hospitalares em pessoas submetidas a cirurgia eletiva, através da perceção dos enfermeiros. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo de natureza interpretativa, com recurso a entrevistas semiestruturadas a 14 enfermeiros de perioperatório, numa amostra não probabilística em bola de neve e para o qual foi obtido o parecer favorável de uma Comissão de Ética. Foi elaborado um guião de entrevista e testado para validação por peritos na área. A metodologia utilizada no estudo foi no sentido de responder às questões de investigação: ?Qual a perceção de enfermeiros de perioperatório sobre as causas do reinternamento após cirurgia eletiva??; ?Quais os cuidados de enfermagem que, na perceção de enfermeiros de perioperatório, podem influenciar as causas do reinternamento após cirurgia eletiva??. Realizados os contactos com os potenciais participantes, foi feita a recolha de dados e posteriormente tratados e analisados com recurso ao software NVivo. Os resultados das entrevistas foram apresentados com base em dois macro critérios: Causas de reinternamento após cirurgia eletiva e Cuidados de enfermagem no perioperatório, no sentido de dar resposta às duas questões de investigação do estudo. Como principais conclusões do estudo podemos destacar que, da perceção e da experiência dos participantes, que se destacam como causas de reinternamento: infeção ou choque séptico, dor e dificuldade em cumprir o regime terapêutico, problemas respiratórios, complicações da ferida operatória e hemorragia. Podemos salientar que as estratégia através dos cuidados de enfermagem perioperatórios para diminuir os reinternamentos após a cirurgia eletiva identificados pelos enfermeiros foram: mais recursos humanos; mais formação da equipa; realização da consulta pré e pós-operatória; melhoria dos ensinos à pessoa; sistema informático único para registo de informação e transmissão dos cuidados; utilização das novas tecnologias no acompanhamento da pessoa submetida a cirurgia; introdução do papel do enfermeiro de referência; técnicas no controlo da dor.

The role of behaviour-change theory in sleep interventions with emerging adults (aged 18-29 years): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Previous systematic reviews and meta-analysis of sleep interventions with young adults have not reached consensus on what contributes to their efficacy. Behaviour-change theories may influence the efficacy of interventions; hence, the aim of this research was to investigate the role of such theories in sleep interventions with this population. Six electronic databases and reference lists were searched (April-May 2021) for published sleep behaviour-change interventions with emerging adults (aged 18-29 years) that used control groups. A selection of 20 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, but only six were based on behaviour-change theories. Meta-analysis was run with eight studies, as the others had a high risk of bias or did not present the necessary data to calculate Hedges' g. The estimation of a random effects model for the studies showed a small effect in the sleep quality of the participants in the experimental group (g = -0.26; 95% confidence interval -0.42 to -0.09), with low levels of heterogeneity (I2  = 21%), and a small 95% prediction interval (-0.59 to 0.08). Although we could not examine theory or any other moderators of the effect, a qualitative analysis of the behaviour-change techniques present in the interventions leads us to hypothesise that there is not a direct link between behaviour-change techniques and the success of the intervention. Other characteristics of the interventions may be linked to their variable levels of efficacy and should be investigated in the future, as for now there are no answers as to what the key is for successful sleep interventions.

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students.

Gender similarities have been detected in various sexual behaviors and attitudes in young adults, but persistent differences remain regarding casual sexual relationships (CSRs), with women feeling different external pressures than men. We set out to study the spontaneous references made to gender similarities and differences towards CSRs in eight focus group interviews (N = 35 college-students, aged 18-28) about the characteristics of CSRs within a social-role framework. The thematic analysis led us to the interpretation that there is an ongoing change in the acceptability of these relationships, leading to the emergence of a single sexual standard - mostly liberal, but at times also conservative. However, different expectations remain, derived from a deep-rooted traditional sexual double standard still perceived in society. Challenges to the unequal standards and social constraints in CSRs is desired by many women, defended by men, and admired in those women whose striving contributes to the normalization of this conduct and of how it is evaluated. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02344-9.

Multiple Casual Sex Scripts: Shared Beliefs about Behavior among Portuguese Emerging Adults.

Objective: Empirical research to differentiate casual sex scripts is still limited. We aimed to ascertain the sexual scripts for three main types of casual sexual relationships: hookup, friends with benefits and one-night stands. Methods: Through a mixed-method approach, we performed a study consisting in two sequential tasks to (1) complete three lists of script actions, and (2) identify the most agreed-upon actions for each casual sexual relationship. Results: An important number of actions and events were identified for the three casual sexual scripts, reflecting a high level of elaboration and structure. Following a cognitive-script methodology, the actions retained for the content of the script for each casual sexual relationship were those obtaining at least 60% in respect to the mean of their centrality to the encounter. Only 16.5% of actions were shared among the three scripts, demonstrating their distinctiveness. Conclusion: Knowledge about the different casual sex scripts can be used to develop relational and personal skills within CSRs and decrease unwanted experiences such as condomless sex.