Investigation On The Status Of AIDS Prevention Knowledge And Behavior Characters Among Different Groups

AIDS is a serious disease,which threatens human's health and social development. AIDS was firstly detected in the United States in 1981.Since then,AIDS has been transmitted all around the world with an astonishing speed.At present,AIDS has reached more than 210 countries of the five continents on the earth.According to a report by the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS(UNAIDS),on December of 2006,the total HIV infectors in the world has reached 39,500,000,and in 2006,there were 4,300,000 new detected HIV infectors in the world and 2,900,000 died of AIDS.Since 1985,the first case of AIDS was detected in China,AIDS epidemic has been increasing in a great range with significant regional varieties,and in some regions it has entered a stage of rapid expansion.Statistic shows that by the end of 2005,there were about 650,000(540,000-760,000)HIV infectors or AIDS cases,and among these cases approximately 75,000(65,000-85,000)were AIDS patients.The average prevalence rate was 0.05%(0.04%-0.06%).Drug injection and sexual intercourse have become two major ways of AIDS transmission.The status of HIV infection was more serious:in 2005 there were about 70,000(60,000-80,000)new detected cases of HIV infection and about 25,000(20,000-30,000)died of AIDS.The report suggested that in China,AIDS epidemic was diffusing from high-risk population to general population,and there was a potential risk of further transmission.Hangzhou is one of the cities,where cases of HIV infection were first detected in China.Thanks to the integrality and sensitivity of AIDS surveillance system, Hangzhou is also one of the cities with most reported cases in Zhejiang province. However,there is a big difference of the epidemic in different districts or counties.As a major metro district in Hangzhou,In 2003 the first case of AIDS was reported in Xiacheng district.After that,the epidemic is no more to be ignored,and all three transmitting ways have been detected.In 2005,Xiacheng district was designated as a demonstration area of AIDS prevention and treatment by the government,and a five -year plan was established to develop AIDS related knowledge education, intervention,social care,and so on,and thus to explore a comprehensive mode of AIDS prevention and treatment in city districts.Until up to now,there are no particular or effective treating methods for HIV infectors or AIDS cases.Thus,prevention is still the priority strategy for AIDS control. Followings are some effective methods of AIDS prevention and control at present: propaganda and education,popularization of related prevention knowledge,fostering healthy life styles,improving perception and abilities of self-defense,and eliminating risk factors of HIV infection.In order to improve people's perception and abilities of AIDS prevention,related departments at all levels of the country,provinces,and cities established a series of activity plans,guiding methods,propaganda projects,etc.,and they hope to mobilize the whole society's power to thoroughly and persistently develop popularization work of AIDS prevention and advocate healthy life styles and behavior rules among the general population,by the methods of propaganda,education,and intervention.In Activity Projects on Holding Back and Preventing AIDS in Zhejiang Province (2006-2007),it advanced the following objectives by 2007:among the population aged 15-49,the knowledge rate about AIDS prevention of city residents should reach 85%,that of migratoty people reach 75%,that of youths in schools reach 90%,and that of high risk population reach 85%.To reach the above objectives,the relevant government departments should make efficient efforts to improve the participation of all the communities,to strengthen education and propaganda to public,community, and focusing population.Although we have put much emphasis on propaganda and education and achieved some goals by adopting all kinds of measures,there are still some defects:a lack of systematic and pertinent education methods;illogical distribution of time and areas in propaganda;low coverage rate of general population's education on AIDS;lack of deepness and extent in education,and so on. Therefore,it comes to a serious problem that we should pertinently strengthen the propaganda of AIDS prevention,popularize AIDS prevention knowledge among general population,foster healthy life style and enhance perception of self-prevention.ObjectiveTo achieve the scientific understanding on the status about AIDS prevention knowledge of six different groups in Xiacheng district:community residents,students at school,STD clinic clients,female sex workers,long-distance truck drivers,and construction workers;to investigate effective ways of popularization of AIDS prevention knowledge among different populations;to understand different groups' attitudes toward HIV infectors and AIDS patients;to explore main factors affecting high risk population's behaviors;to make sure about the contents and pertinent methods of health education on different groups and put forward strategies and measures about comprehensive AIDS prevention;and finally to provide evidences for the assessing of prevention effects.MethodsAccording to the questionnaire about AIDS prevention knowledge and behaviors made by the management office of national demonstration districts for AIDS prevention,three communities and two schools were selected with a method of random sampling,and totally 510 community residents and 730 students answered the questionnaire.The survey was also made to 391 long-distance truck drivers,330 construction workers,401 clients attending a sexual transmitted diseases clinic,and 559 female sex workers,and the data were put into computers after checking.A database was set up by Epidata3.1,the data were analyzed by SPSS11.0,and the factors affecting attitudes and behaviors were analyzed with Logistic method.Results1.Status about AIDS prevention knowledge of different groupsThe highest knowledged rate about AIDS prevention was among students(88.9%), the second highest group(81.0%)was community residents,the third(80.2%)group was female sex workers,the fourth(78.9%)group was STD clinic clients,the fifth (72.4%)was for construction workers,and the lowest(65.1%)group was the long-distance truck drivers.There was statistic significance among the rates of groups (x~2=15.32,P＜0.05).In the basic knowledge of AIDS,students have the highest knowledge rate 89.4%, the next highest rate was 81.8%,while the lowest rate was obtained by long-distance truck drivers(62.7%).In addition,87.3%of the candidates know the three-transmitting methods of AIDS,the highest percentage was students(94.5%),and while only 76.9% construction workers know it.For the non-transmitting methods of AIDS,students get the highest knowledge rate(85.7%),while only 56.2%construction workers know it.Meanwhile,for the fundamental AIDS prevention knowledge,such as condom could decrease the chance to infect the AIDS,was mostly known by female sex workers(86.9%),next was students(86.3%),the third highest rate was obtained by STD clinic clients(83.5%),the fourth was community residents(75.8%),the fifth was long-distance truck drivers(74.2%),and the lowest rate was obtained by construction workers(67%).The survey also shows that community residents,female sex workers and construction workers all get the poorest score on the same question:would a health looking person get the HIV/AIDS? The correct rates were 74.7%,65.1%,and 57.9%, which showed significance in statistic perspective(x~2=25.58,P＜0.01).Both STD clinic clients and long-distance truck drivers gain the poorest score on the question:is AIDS curable? The correct rates were 70.3%and 52.7%.There was statistic significance among the rates with different groups(x~2=26.04,P＜0.01).Although students gain the poorest score on the question:could condom prevent the AIDS infection(86.3%),the rate still was higher than the community residents(75.8%). There was statistic significance among the rates with different groups(x~2=23.42,P＜0.01).2 AIDS knowledge rate distribution based on the demology methodology2.1 Community residentsAccording to the analysis of the candidates' marriage status,age and education background,there was statistic significance among the rates of community residents.2.2 StudentsAmong the candidates of the students group,87.8%are university students and 90.1%are high school students,the survey shows that the high school students have the higher knowledge rate than the university students.There was statistic significance among the rates of students.2.3 STD clinic clientsBased on the analysis of the group candidates' identification location,age and education background,there was statistic significance among the rates of the STD clinic clients.2.4 Female sex workersBased on the analysis of the group candidates' identification location,residence period,there was statistic significance among the rates of this group.2.5 Long-distance truck driversBased on the analysis of the candidates' marriage status,age and identification location,there was statistic significance among the rates of this group.2.6 Construction workersBased on the analysis of the candidates' marriage status and age,there was statistic significance among the rates of this group.3 Attitudes toward HIV infectorsIf one's acquaintance was infected with HIV,he would continue to keep in touch with the person,and then his attitude was defined as positive.The highest rate with positive attitude was 57.0%,which was among female sex workers,the second (46.3%)was the middle school students,the third(44.6%)highest was the STD clinic clients,the fourth(41.1%)was the community residents,the fifth(25.6%)was the construction workers,and again,the lowest rate(23.4%)was the long-distance truck drivers.In addition,still a certain proportion indicated that they didn't know how to deal with such cases.There was statistic significance among the rates of the six groups.4 Behavior Analysis of the major groups4.1 Rate of non-marriage/commercial sex behaviorSTD clinic clients have the highest percentage of the non-marriage sex behaviors, which is 71.3%;58.4%sex female workers admitted to have the experience of commercial sex behavior.23.8%of long-distance truck driver and 8.5%construction workers admitted to have the commercial sex behaviors.The statistic test demonstrates that there was statistic significance among the rates of the group.4.2 Condom used for recent commercial sex behavior.The survey showed female sex workers,85.3%used condoms in the latest commercial sex behavior,which is the highest usage of all the groups.The second highest rate(76.3%)was from long-distance truck drivers,the third one(61.9%)was the STD clinic clients,and the poorest figure(60.7%)was construction workers,the statistic significance among the rates with different groups(x~2=46.27,P＜0.01)4.3 Condom usage in high-risk groups for recent three monthsIt was showed that 286 of STD clinic clients had the sex behavior with non-marriage partner in recent three months.Among the 286 of them,23(8.0%)never used condom;54 persons(18.9%)used all the time.326 female sex workers had experience of commercial sex behavior,only 18 of them(5.5%)never used condom; 175 of them(53.7%)used all the time.There was statistic significance among the rates of the two groups.4.4 Condom used by susceptible groups for recent year's commercial sex behaviorAmong the long-distance truck drivers with commercial sex experience,only 49.5%of the candidates use the condom all the time.Meanwhile,for the same situation in construction workers' group,only 35.7%used the condom all the time.4.5 Commercial sex behavior frequency in high-risk groups93 of the 391 long-distance truck drivers admitted to averagely have 2.16 times commercial sex behavior in recent 12 months.Meanwhile,among the 330 constraction workers,the figure for 28 construction workers was 1.57 times,t test also shows the statistic significance among the rates of groups(t=2.73,P＜0.01)5 Attitudes toward STD clinic.When candidates faced some symptoms of STD.the specialized STD clinic and multifunctional hospitals is chosen for the four groups.Long-distance drivers have the strongest intention to visit the STD clinic(84.4%),the second one was STD clinic clients(84.4%),the third was construction workers(77.6%),and the female sex workers have the poorest intention to visit the STD clinic(69.5%).The statistic significance was shown between female sex workers and STD clinic clients(x~2 =20.19,P＜0.01),between long-distance truck drivers and construction workers(x~2 =5.48,P＜0.05).However,no statistic significance was found between long-distance truck drivers and STD clinic clients(x~2=0.63,P＞0.05).6 Primary methods to promote propaganda and education on AIDS prevention.TV is most favored popular media by all groups,following are radio,newspaper and magazines.Community residents and students both like newspaper and magazines;the high-risk groups,such as STD clinic clients,prefer the radio,doctors was the primary interpersonal communication method.ConclusionsAll different groups had certain understanding to AIDS prevention knowledge,but the understanding to AIDS transmitting ways was significantly better than that to non-transmitting ways;all of them still had a serious bias against HIV infectors or patients;there existed a latent risk of AIDS epidemic due to a high proportion of risk behaviors among high risk population;and there was a difference among different groups as for the sources they obtained AIDS prevention knowledge and their favored ways to obtain.It was suggested that different measures should be adopted aimed at different groups,with the full use of mass media and available resources,and taking TV,newspaper,wall maps,and doctors as main carriers.All kinds of comprehensive interference work should be developed,with a focus on improving use rate of condoms.And eventually prevent and control the transmitting and epidemic of AIDS.