Study On HIV/AIDS Related-Stigma And Discrimination Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Chengdu City

Objective To investigate the status of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination and its influencing factors among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chengdu city, so as to provide effective intervention strategies to reduce HIV related-stigma and discrimination among this population.Methods Anonymous questionnaires were administered to collect from 107 HIV-positive MSM and 118 HIV-negative MSM, who were in-cruited by snowball sampling techniques and convenient sampling from July to November 2009. The instuments for HIV-positive MSM included Demographic Information Sheet, HIV/AIDS Related-Stigma and Dis-crimination among MSM Questionaire-A (Q-A), Social Supporting Scale and Self-esteem Scale. The instuments for HIV-negative MSM included Demographic Information Sheet, HIV/AIDS Knowledge Questionaire, HIV/AIDS Related-Stigma and Discrimination among MSM Question-aire-B (Q-B). Descriptive analysis, independent samples T test, completely randomized design analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear stepwise regression were performed by the Stistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 13.0.Results1. Demographic characteristics of MSMNearly 60% of the study respondents in Chengdu City were at the age between 20 to 30 years old. More than 50% had college education or higher. Around 15% of them were bisexual, over 10% had got married, and 65% were from an urban setting.2. High-risk sexual behavior among MSMDuring last 3 months,55.1% of HIV-positive MSM had none or 1 sexual partner, and 37.4% had 2-5 sexual partners; 71.0% of MSM used condoms evey time when having sexual behavior. While 44.9% of HIV-negative MSM had none or 1 sexual partner, and 51.7% had 2-5. Just 31.3% of HIV negative MSM used condoms evey time.3. The situation of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination among HIV-positive MSMThe total score of the Q-A among HIV-positive MSM was (127.36±17.68), with a range from 42 to 210, the subscale scores were (43.21±8.15), (27.0214.45), (27.6716.05) and (29.4516.12) respectively. More than 60% of them worry the disclosure to others. More than 50% of them reported self-stigma, and more than 50% of them felt stigma and discrimination on sexual rights.4. Influencing Factors of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimina-tion among HIV-positive MSMOne-way ANONA analysis showed that who were not clear about themselves sexual orientation or never used condoms were more worried about disclosure. Those without clear sexual orientation reported ex-pericing a higher level of stigma and discrimination. Those who had higher lever of education and divorced or widowed showed a higher levels of self-stigma.Those who had higher level of education and never used condoms reported a higher level of stigma and discrimination on sexual rights. Those who were not on antiviral treatment and had disclosed the infection to significant others reported higher total scores. These differences mentioned above were statistically significant (P< 0.05). Stepwise regression analysis showed that disclosure concerns, low education level, less same-sex sexual partners, low condom use rate, not on antiviral treatment and poor self-perceived physical condition were the major influence factors of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination.5. The status of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination among HIV-negative MSMThe total score of the Q-B among HIV-negative MSM was (91.19±20.33), with a range from 37 to 185, the subscale scores were (29.8818.50) and (61.31±13.67). The HIV related discrimination from HIV-negative MSM mainly reflected in physical contact and sexual rights. 55.1% HIV-negative MSM showed they would not have sex with in-fected MSM.68.7% of the study respondents agreed that for the safety of others, the HIV-positive MSM should not have sex with others.6. Influencing Factors on HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimina-tion among HIV-negative MSMOne-way ANOVA analysis showed statistically significant difference in the discriminatory behavior score and the total discrimination score among those with or without former contact with HIV-infected people (P<0.05). the HIV/AIDS related knowledge score was negatively corre-lated with the discrimination scores, the Pearson correlation coefficients were-0.341,-0.289,-0.353 and P values were 0.000,0.001,0.000, respectively. Stepwise regression analysis showed that incomplete awareness of HIV/AIDS related knowledge was the major influence fac-tor of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination among HIV-negative MSM.Conclusions1. The MSM in Chendu were young, high educated and with varity of marital status and most of them were living in the city.2. HIV/AIDS related high-risk sexual behavior was high among MSM in Chengdu. The rate of high risk sexual behavior is higher among HIV-negative MSM have compared with HIV-positive MSM.3. There exsits a certain degree of HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination MSM communities, which was mainly reflected in physical contact and sexual rights.4. The HIV/AIDS related-stigma and discrimination among MSM was mainly demonstrated as disclosure concern, self-stigma and discrimination, sexual rights stigma and discrimination.5. For HIV-negative MSM, who lack of knowledge of AIDS, without former contact with HIV-positive ones, lead to a higher degree of dis- crimination For HIV-positive MSM, having disclosed to others, low edu-cation level, less same-sex sexual partners, low condom use rate, not on antiviral treatment and poor self-perceived physical condition result in high level of HIV/AIDS related-stigma.