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Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers >
Graduate School of Medicine / Faculty of Medicine >
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc >
Awareness and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among residents of Kandy, Sri Lanka
| Title: | Awareness and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among residents of Kandy, Sri Lanka |
| Authors: | Navaratna, Samidi Browse this author | | Kanda, Koji Browse this author | | Dharmaratne, Samath D. Browse this author | | Tennakoon, Sampath Browse this author | | Jayasinghe, Ananda Browse this author | | Jayasekara, Niroshan Browse this author | | Nagano, Katsutoshi Browse this author | | Obayashi, Yoshihide Browse this author | | Arai, Asuna Browse this author →KAKEN DB | | Tamashiro, Hiko Browse this author →KAKEN DB |
| Keywords: | general population | | attitudes: stigma | | Sri Lanka | | awareness |
| Issue Date: | 4-Mar-2015 |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
| Journal Title: | AIDS care : psychological and socio-medical aspects of AIDS/HIV |
| Volume: | 27 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Start Page: | 387 |
| End Page: | 391 |
| Publisher DOI: | 10.1080/09540121.2014.963496 |
| Abstract: | Currently, interventions for HIV/AIDS control in Sri Lanka are only carried out among the most-at-risk populations. This study was conducted to identify the level of awareness and stigma-related attitudes among the general population of Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 869 residents of 18-64 years of age in Kandy, Sri Lanka. A self-administered questionnaire was utilised to obtain information about stigma, discrimination and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. Chi-square test and multivariate analysis were applied to find possible associations between HIV-related variables and socio-demographic indicators. Response rate was 82.0%. Overall, 93.5% of the participants have heard of HIV/AIDS but the knowledge on HIV/AIDS was low with an average score of 51.7%, no statistically significant difference between genders (p = 0.352). Only 58.1% were aware that a condom was an effective tool for its prevention. There were many misconceptions related to epidemiology of HIV/AIDS. The participants showed more positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) for all questionnaire items except for those listed under shame and blame. Positive attitudes towards PLHIV were observed to be greater among those with a better HIV/AIDS-related knowledge score. There was no significant association between the attitudes towards PLHIV and socio-demographic characteristics such as ethnicity and religion. There is a greater need of making attempts towards educating the public regarding HIV/AIDS to eliminate misconceptions prevalent in the society. Stigma-related attitudes are mainly due to shame and blame associated with the disease. As the attitudes towards PLHIV were more positive among those with a better HIV/AIDS-related knowledge score, targeted HIV/AIDS-related health education interventions maybe recommended in this regard. |
| Rights: | This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in "AIDS Care" on March 4th, 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09540121.2014.963496 |
| Type: | article (author version) |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2115/60788 |
| Appears in Collections: | 医学院・医学研究院 (Graduate School of Medicine / Faculty of Medicine) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)
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Submitter: 新井 明日奈
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