Relationship between knowledge of hiv, self-perceived vulnerability and sexual risk behaviours among community clinic workers in chile

Objective: To test the hypothesis of an association between knowledge and sexual risk behaviours (SRB) among community-clinic workers in Chile, explained by the confounding effect of self-perceived vulnerability to HIV. Methods: Analysis of a cross-sectional survey, nested within a quasi-experimental study of 720 community-clinic workers in Santiago. The SRB score combined number of sexual partners and condom use, coded as “high”/“low” SRB. The Knowledge of HIV, a 25-item index, was coded as “inadequate”/“adequate” knowledge. Self-perceived vulnerability to HIV was categorised as “high”/“moderate”/“low”. Control variables included socio-demographics, educational level, and occupation. Descriptive, association and confounding analysis was developed through proportions/averages, Chi-square tests, and logistic regression (OR-estimations). Results: Respondents were 78,2% female, 46,8% married, 67,6% Catholic, mean age 38,9 years(d.s.=10.5), 69% had University/Diploma level and 58,7% reported occupational risk of HIV. An adequate level of Knowledge (75% sample) was associated with educational level (OR=2.5,CI=1.7-3.4) and occupational risk (OR=3.3,CI=2.2-5.0). Self-perceived vulnerability was “low” in 71,5% cases. A negative association between Knowledge and SRB was found (OR=0.55,CI=0.35–0.86), but Self-perceived vulnerability did not have a confounding effect on this relationship. Conclusions: Some community-clinic workers had inaccurate knowledge of HIV, which was associated to SRB. Self-perceived vulnerability did not have a confounding effect, however, future studies should further analyse occupational risk of HIV as possible driving factor in health workers´ perception of their risk. Focused training programmes should be developed to enhance basic knowledge of HIV in this group.

• Autores: Cabieses Valdes, Baltica; Ferrer Lagunas, Lilian; Villarroel del Pino, Luis; Tunstall, Helena; Norr, Kathleen
• Tipo de recurso: Article of journal
• Fecha de publicación: 2010
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Repositorio: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unal.edu.co:unal/25876
• Acceso en línea: https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/25876; http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/16914/
• Palabra clave: health research; public hea; th; HIV and AIDS; community-clinic workers; knowledge; self-perception of vulnerability; HIV/AIDS; sexual risk behaviours; confounding analysis; public health; health professionales
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional