Cargando…

Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana

INTRODUCTION: Understanding sex differences in willingness to test and testing experience could aid the design of focus interventions to enhance uptake and engagement with care, treatment and support services. This study determined differences in perceived risk of acquiring HIV, willingness to test...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yawson, Alfred E, Appiah, Labi K, Yawson, Anita O, Bonsu, George, Aluze-Ele, Simon, Owusu Amanhyia, Nana AK, Lartey, Margaret, Adjei, Andrew A, Lawson, Aaron L, Beckwith, Curt, Kwara, Awewura, Flanigan, Timothy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4234896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25398271
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12939-014-0109-z
_version_ 1782344931768008704
author Yawson, Alfred E
Appiah, Labi K
Yawson, Anita O
Bonsu, George
Aluze-Ele, Simon
Owusu Amanhyia, Nana AK
Lartey, Margaret
Adjei, Andrew A
Lawson, Aaron L
Beckwith, Curt
Kwara, Awewura
Flanigan, Timothy
author_facet Yawson, Alfred E
Appiah, Labi K
Yawson, Anita O
Bonsu, George
Aluze-Ele, Simon
Owusu Amanhyia, Nana AK
Lartey, Margaret
Adjei, Andrew A
Lawson, Aaron L
Beckwith, Curt
Kwara, Awewura
Flanigan, Timothy
author_sort Yawson, Alfred E
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Understanding sex differences in willingness to test and testing experience could aid the design of focus interventions to enhance uptake and engagement with care, treatment and support services. This study determined differences in perceived risk of acquiring HIV, willingness to test and HIV testing experience in an urban fishing community. METHODS: A cross-sectional community survey was conducted in 2013 among men and women in two fishing communities (Chorkor and James Town) in Accra. In all, 554 subjects (≥18 years) were involved, 264 in Chorkor and 290 in James Town. Data on demographic characteristics, perceived risk for HIV and willingness to test for HIV and testing experience were collected with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Chi square test were used for the analysis at 95% significant level, using SPSS version 21. RESULTS: Of 554 subjects, 329 (59.4%) were females, and median age was 32 years. Overall, only 91(40.4%) men and 118(35.9%) women perceived themselves to be at risk of acquiring HIV. A significant proportion of women were willing to test for HIV compared to men (86.3% vs. 80.0%, P = 0.048). Women were more likely to have ever tested for HIV compared to men (42.2% vs. 28.6%, P = 0.001) and more women had tested within 12 months prior to survey than men (49.6% vs. 40.6%, P = 0.230). Of the number who had tested for HIV infection, a higher proportion of men tested voluntarily 42(65.6%), while a higher proportion of women tested as part of healthcare service received 96(69.1%); (P = 0.001; indicating women vs. men). CONCLUSION: Sex differences in risk perception and willingness to test need more focused public education and behaviour change communication strategies to achieve high coverage. Community-based strategies could improve HIV testing among men whilst more access to testing in health settings should be available to women in these communities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4234896
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-42348962014-11-19 Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana Yawson, Alfred E Appiah, Labi K Yawson, Anita O Bonsu, George Aluze-Ele, Simon Owusu Amanhyia, Nana AK Lartey, Margaret Adjei, Andrew A Lawson, Aaron L Beckwith, Curt Kwara, Awewura Flanigan, Timothy Int J Equity Health Research INTRODUCTION: Understanding sex differences in willingness to test and testing experience could aid the design of focus interventions to enhance uptake and engagement with care, treatment and support services. This study determined differences in perceived risk of acquiring HIV, willingness to test and HIV testing experience in an urban fishing community. METHODS: A cross-sectional community survey was conducted in 2013 among men and women in two fishing communities (Chorkor and James Town) in Accra. In all, 554 subjects (≥18 years) were involved, 264 in Chorkor and 290 in James Town. Data on demographic characteristics, perceived risk for HIV and willingness to test for HIV and testing experience were collected with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Chi square test were used for the analysis at 95% significant level, using SPSS version 21. RESULTS: Of 554 subjects, 329 (59.4%) were females, and median age was 32 years. Overall, only 91(40.4%) men and 118(35.9%) women perceived themselves to be at risk of acquiring HIV. A significant proportion of women were willing to test for HIV compared to men (86.3% vs. 80.0%, P = 0.048). Women were more likely to have ever tested for HIV compared to men (42.2% vs. 28.6%, P = 0.001) and more women had tested within 12 months prior to survey than men (49.6% vs. 40.6%, P = 0.230). Of the number who had tested for HIV infection, a higher proportion of men tested voluntarily 42(65.6%), while a higher proportion of women tested as part of healthcare service received 96(69.1%); (P = 0.001; indicating women vs. men). CONCLUSION: Sex differences in risk perception and willingness to test need more focused public education and behaviour change communication strategies to achieve high coverage. Community-based strategies could improve HIV testing among men whilst more access to testing in health settings should be available to women in these communities. BioMed Central 2014-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4234896/ /pubmed/25398271 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12939-014-0109-z Text en © Yawson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Yawson, Alfred E
Appiah, Labi K
Yawson, Anita O
Bonsu, George
Aluze-Ele, Simon
Owusu Amanhyia, Nana AK
Lartey, Margaret
Adjei, Andrew A
Lawson, Aaron L
Beckwith, Curt
Kwara, Awewura
Flanigan, Timothy
Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title_full Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title_fullStr Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title_short Sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of HIV in an urban fishing setting in Ghana
title_sort sex differences in perceived risk and testing experience of hiv in an urban fishing setting in ghana
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4234896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25398271
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12939-014-0109-z
work_keys_str_mv AT yawsonalfrede sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT appiahlabik sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT yawsonanitao sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT bonsugeorge sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT aluzeelesimon sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT owusuamanhyiananaak sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT larteymargaret sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT adjeiandrewa sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT lawsonaaronl sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT beckwithcurt sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT kwaraawewura sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana
AT flanigantimothy sexdifferencesinperceivedriskandtestingexperienceofhivinanurbanfishingsettinginghana