Table III.
Frequency of themes by dyad type and by sex of individual in YGM/female dyads
| Themes | Definitions | Frequency by dyad type |
Frequency by sex (YGM–female dyads) |
||
| YGM–YGM (n = 11) | YGM–female (n = 13) | Females (n = 13) | YGM (n = 13) | ||
| Valuing safer sexa | Emphasizing the importance of engaging in safer sex in general | Nearly allb | Nearly all | Nearly all | Nearly all |
| Endorsing and monitoring condom usea | Emphasizing condoms and checking on friends’ condom use | Most | Most | Most | Most |
| Condom talk: limited in nuancea | Communicating about condom use in ways that lack specificity or follow through | Nearly all | Nearly all | Nearly all | Nearly all |
| ‘Monogamy will protect you’ scripta | Assuming that a committed relationship eliminates HIV risk | About half | About half | About half | A few |
| ‘Knowing him will protect you’ script | Assuming that gaining information about a potential sexual partner confers safety from HIV | A few | Most | About half | About half |
| Mini sexual history takers | Making efforts to gather concrete information about a partner's prior sexual experiences | None | Some | Some | None |
| Stay away from ‘whores’ and ‘sluts’ script | Assuming that avoiding ‘promiscuous’ partners will confer protection against HIV | A few | About half | A few | Some |
| Condom use ‘no matter what’ script | Emphasizing the value of using condoms, even with partners who are known and trusted | Some | About half | None | About half |
| Reassuring friends after unprotected sex | Assuring a friend that an incident of unprotected sex was low risk | A few | A few | A few | A few |
These themes were anticipated based on the research literature, and were systematically asked about in all interviews. Other themes were unanticipated, emerging spontaneously in the interviews. The frequencies of emergent themes may underestimate how many participants would have endorsed these themes if they had been asked about in every interview.
Where there were fewer than four cases, this was indicated by the term ‘a few’, while the words ‘several’ and ‘some’ were used when fewer than half of the cases were referenced. We used ‘about half’ to indicate themes that were prevalent in about half of the interviews. The terms ‘many’ and ‘most’ indicate that the theme was found in more than half of the cases and ‘nearly all’ was reserved for instances where themes were found in almost all of the cases.