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HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing: Knowledge, Beliefs, Concerns and Practices among Students
Abstract
The study sought to explore university students' perceptions of the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programme. Ninety-nine Black African students were randomly selected from a class of students majoring in psychology to take part in the survey. A questionnaire was used to gather data on the st udents' perceptions of VCT. Data were analysed in terms of response frequencies and percentages. The study showed that most of the participants knew about the VCT programme that was offered by both the government and pr ivate organisations. The students indicated that the VCT programme was important because they were vulnerable to HIV infection. However, most of the students in this study reported that they were not testing for HIV because of leakage of results, fear of knowing their status, stigma tisation and labelling. Participants reported that peer educators, radio and television were their source of information for HIV prevention. Further research with a larger sample is recommended to get generalisable results.
... The utilization of 234 various web-based resources can be a reason for some miscon-235 ceptions and wrong information obtained by the students in (Black, 2007;Beauchamp and Childress, 2001). It was impor- (Mudhovozi et al., 2012). In this study, approxi- (Surlis and Hyde, 2001;Schietinger and Daniels, 1996). ...
Introduction: Dental care has remained as an unmet need for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). Dental students are considered as future healthcare workforce and having beliefs which are discriminating may have negative attitudes towards providing care to these individuals (Azodo et al., 2010). The study aimed to assess the ethical beliefs and attitudes of dental students towards PLWHAs for providing care.
Methods: It is a descriptive correlational and cross sectional study. Nine public and private dental schools in Malaysia participated in the study. Data was collected using a validated self-administered questionnaire.
Results: A total of 481 dental students participated in this study, yielding response rate of 78%. Majority of the participants (74%) believed that patients’ HIV status should be disclosed to patients’ sexual partner without permission. Approximately 60% of the participants reported that rooms/beds of HIV patients should be clearly marked. Regarding patient disease status 28% of the students reported that it is appropriate to test a patient for HIV/AIDS without patient’s permission. Only Fifty five percent of the students expressed the willingness to treat HIV patients and 49% reported to held fear of getting infected while treating patients with HIV/AIDS. Sixty four percent of the participants reported to be more comfortable giving care to non-HIV patients than HIV-positive patients.
Conclusion: Dental students’ ethical beliefs about HIV/AIDS were not consistent with the ethical principles as stated in the code of ethics and they held negative attitudes towards PLWHAs. Ethical beliefs were found to be a determinant that may influence future attitudes of these students towards individuals with HIV/AIDS when providing care.
HIV/AIDS knowledge is an important component of HIV/AIDS risk prevention strategies that may influence engagement in high risk behavior. This paper examines HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge among a representative sample of 4,174 youth living in Cape Town, South Africa. Data come from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), and include black, coloured, and white respondents ages 14-22. Using an open-ended question, respondents were asked to name ways people can protect themselves from HIV/AIDS infection. Nearly everyone could name at least one method of preventing HIV infection, and respondents named two methods on average. Condoms, abstinence, and limitingthe number of sexual partners/having only one sexual partner were the most frequently named prevention methods. Multivariate analysis was used to analyze correlates of specific forms of HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as the total number of prevention methods named by each respondent. Having had sex, highest grade completed, and race were the most commonly significant correlates across models. Race interaction terms were also significant, suggesting that the significance of HIV/AIDS knowledge correlates varies across racial groups. Overall, the results suggest that more depth of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is needed among South African youth to ensure properprotection from the disease, and that HIV/AIDS education might be more successful if tailored to specific racial/ethnic groups.
The objective of this qualitative study was to identify psychosocial correlates of HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), with an emphasis on the association between fear of AIDS-related stigma and willingness to have an HIV test.
The study was executed in Limpopo Province at University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa. Focus group interviews were held among 72 students, divided over 10 groups.
Results showed that participants had different levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and VCT, and that AIDS was still strongly associated with 'death'. Results further demonstrate that HIV/AIDS related stigma is still a very serious problem in South Africa. Lack of HIV/AIDS related knowledge, blaming persons with HIV/AIDS for their infection, and the life-threatening character of the disease were seen as the most important determinants of AIDS-related stigma. The main benefit to go for VCT was 'knowing your HIV status', whereas main barriers for testing were 'fear of being stigmatised' and 'fear of knowing your HIV positive status'.
Fear of stigmatization is an important barrier to HIV testing and has negative consequences for AIDS prevention and treatment. Interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma are needed in order to foster voluntary HIV counselling and testing in South Africa
An overview of social responses to AIDS, characterized by high levels of stigma, discrimination central to the global AIDS challenge, as related to human dignity is described. Stigma is conceptualized as a problem of 'they' and 'us', or interactions perspective. Causes and consequences to enable the varied perspectives in understanding this third epidemic of social impact of HIV/AIDS are described. In the absence of an effective medical intervention, the social factors like stigma and discrimination attached to HIV/AIDS are a major obstacle in the curtailment of the disease requiring urgent action. The different forms of stigma associated with other diseases are compared. Ignorance about the disease, fear of discrimination and consequent denial for testing and treatment, contribute to spread of the disease. The disease status adds to vulnerability especially in women. The disease is often identified with groups like intravenous drug users (IDUs), and homosexuals who face a double stigma as a result of HIV. Research scenario on stigma associated with HIV/AIDS is reviewed to understand the future needs. Initiatives of ongoing intervention to reduce stigma exist globally. Emerging issues in research priorities have been highlighted to counter consequences of pandemic from social perspective of human dignity and rights.
Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programmes are regarded as an important strategy in the management of the HIV/AIDS pandemic worldwide. Such programmes, however, often have limited success due to various problems such as the existence of attitudes and beliefs that act as psychosocial barriers. This article, which presents a study of attitudes towards VCT in South Africa, attempts to ascertain the reasons for people's continued resistance to VCT programmes. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to survey the views of 1422 people. The results indicate that while the research participants, in principle, were not opposed to VCT, they professed a deep mistrust of health-care professionals, and feared discrimination and rejection by the latter, their sexual partners, and their communities. Participants did not know how to disclose their HIV-positive status, and were concerned about testing that did not include treatment and/or follow-up support, as well as their ability to deal with the ensuing psychological turmoil in the event of testing HIV-positive. The authors proposed various suggestions concerning how to improve VCT services in South Africa.
Many Western-based AIDS education and prevention programmes have failed dismally in Africa and they may only succeed if traditional African beliefs and customs are taken into account. This article discusses relevant aspects of the traditional African worldview by explaining what health, sickness and sexuality mean in traditional Africa. Traditional African perceptions of causes of illness (including AIDS), perceptions of sexuality, and cultural beliefs inhibiting the usage of condoms are described in terms of the influence of the macro-cosmos (the ancestors), the meso-cosmos (witches and sorcerers) and the micro-cosmos (everyday life). The implications for AIDS education and prevention in Africa are discussed and suggestions are offered for the development of such programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study sought to find out how much total knowledge adolescents had concerning AIDS, what particular areas of knowledge were deficient, and how those areas might be related to attitudes and experiences in their social world. Seventy-eight adolescent males from one suburban and three urban high schools were interviewed. A 101-item questionnaire was used to assess: a) overall knowledge about AIDS; b) attitudes about sexuality, drugs, death, and AIDS and; c) related aspects of their social world, i.e., number of IV drug users known, and sources of information about AIDS. Analyses of variance were performed on overall knowledge of AIDS and on five content areas of knowledge. Race was shown to relate to significant differences in the knowledge scores. The social world associated with the urban samples were discussed as risk factors for minority youth. Different attitudes related to strengths and weaknesses in different areas of knowledge. Attitudes associated with deficiencies in different subareas of knowledge were discussed as additional risk factors and as presenting target areas for AIDS education efforts.
Project advisor: Dr. Tom Trice Thesis (B.A.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2006. Microfiche. Includes bibliographical references.
Stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with AIDS (PWAs) may reduce people's willingness to have themselves tested for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)--thereby increasing the risk of transmission.
To examine attitudes towards (HIV) testing and determinants of attitudes towards PWAs.
A cross-sectional.
600 first-year university students from South India, South African and America filled in a self-administered questionnaire. Main outcome measures included an Attitudes towards HIV-Antibody Testing Scale and Readiness to engage in personal forms of contact with People With AIDS. RESULTS indicate that the majority of American and South African students and only 10 percent of the Indian students had been sexually active in the past 12 months. Almost one fifth of the American and South African participants but only 10% of the Indian students admitted to having had an HIV test. American students had a much more positive attitudes toward HIV testing than South African and Indian students. Regression analysis for the Indian student sample identified blaming, irritation and negative attitudes toward homosexuals as independent predictors of readiness to engage in personal contact with PWAs, while the regression analyses for both South African and American students identified pity and irritation as independent predictors of contact readiness with PWAs. Positive HIV testing attitudes were positively associated with contact readiness with PWAs.
The findings are important for the role of HIV testing and counselling in campus AIDS programmes. The findings reveal important factors related to HIV testing and suggest strategies for developing effective HIV/AIDS counselling programmes in universities.
South Africa has a fast-growing HIV/AIDS rate, with the highest prevalence among young people (15 to 24 years), especially females. This paper is a comprehensive analytical review of available research concerning the sexual behavior of adolescents in South Africa. It offers insight into HIV infection among adolescents and provides an important base for educational interventions aimed at behavior change and reducing further transmission. The most important conclusion is that, despite the research (however limited) that has been done, there has been no significant change in the rate of infection among adolescents in South Africa. A new generation of behavioral interventions, involving both factual knowledge and life skills to promote behavioral risk reduction, is recommended.
HIV-associated stigma is a significant barrier to HIV testing in South Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of study subjects who wanted to know their HIV status and to describe factors associated with and reasons for wanting to know HIV results. Data were obtained from a cohort study in rural South Africa evaluating the impact of migration on HIV infection. All participants were offered HIV pretest and posttest counseling with the option of receiving their HIV test results. In-depth interviews with 12 randomly selected participants provided qualitative data. Of 628 participants, 80% wanted to know their HIV results. The main reported reason for wanting HIV results was to protect themselves against future infections. In the multivariable model for women, number of dependents (odds ratio [OR] = 1.181; 95% confidence interval [CI] - 1.070, 1.303), partners of migrant men (OR = 0.37; 95% CI - 0.14, 0.95), and those who reported condom use (OR = 0.17; 95% CI - 0.08, 0.39) were associated with wanting their HIV results. No factors were associated with wanting HIV results in men. Our study suggests that participant-oriented counseling produces high rates of participants wanting to know their HIV status. These findings may be useful in providing insight to understand issues associated with stigma in HIV testing.
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