Objective:

To analyze social representations of condom among Mexican adults.

Material and methods:

A study was carried out from a pluri-methodological aproche, since quantitative and qualitative procedures were done with the support of free listing techniques and successive block choices, which were applied to 176 adults from the cities of Guadalajara and San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

Results: Words that were most frequently associated with the condom were protection, safety and sex; while the less referred were health, pregnancy and diseases. The structure and organization of the social representations of the condom are grouped in three blocks referring to the condom uses, the evaluative aspects and the sexual risks; therefore, the concept of prevention is defined as the central core.

Conclusions:

The results found from the realization of this study allow us to understand the concept of condom from aspects of the social context, which makes it possible to consider elements for sexual health actions from an analysis that has been differentiated by sex.

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