HIV-AIDS Stigma in Burundi: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

The daily life of people living with HIV in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau: perspectives, challenges and vulnerabilities

ABSTRACT Objective to understand perspectives and challenges in the daily lives of people after the discovery of living with HIV in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, considering different contexts of vulnerability. Method an exploratory-descriptive study conducted through semi-structured interviews with sixteen people living with HIV attending a hospital in the city of Bissau. We used the thematic content analysis technique. Participants’ reports were analyzed following two empirical categories: Discovery, impacts and challenges of living with HIV; and Experience with antiretroviral therapy: new beginning and perspectives. Results the results indicate that the challenges start with the disclosure of diagnosis, which arouses a diversity of feelings and behaviors. Stigma and discrimination encourage the adoption of confidentiality about serological status, which increases the fragility of emotional support in coping with seropositivity. Antiretroviral therapy was seen as a hope for coping with the disease. Social vulnerability was the dimension that stood out the most, and human rights violations involving people living with HIV were verified. Conclusion and implications for practice the study makes it possible to understand the perspectives, challenges and vulnerabilities of people living with HIV. Living with HIV deserves special attention from health professionals who work in the care of these people, highlighting as a contribution the relevance of comprehensive health care, in which ethics and subjectivity are present.

Factors Associated with Commercial Sex Behavior among Male College Students Who Engaged in Temporary Heterosexual Behavior in Zhejiang Province, China

Objective

This study explored the characteristics and associated factors of commercial sex behavior among male college students who engaged in temporary heterosexual behaviors in Zhejiang Province, China.

Methods

The participants were male college students with temporary heterosexual behaviors. We developed an online questionnaire to collect information on demographic characteristics, sexual attitudes, sexual behaviors, and HIV/AIDS interventions through stratified cluster sampling. Chi-square (χ ²) tests were performed for the different groups of participants. The occurrence of commercial sex behavior among participants was taken as the dependent variable, and logistic regression was used to analyze the factors associated with the participants' commercial sex behavior.

Results

This study investigated the temporary heterosexual behavior of 424 male college students. Among them were 112 students who reported commercial sex behavior (26.42%), whose average age was 20.25 ± 1.27 years, and whose household registration of Zhejiang Province accounted for 63.39%. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that acceptance of commercial sex behavior (Adjusted (a) OR = 3.53, 95% CI = 1.94~6.40) and feeling at risk of contracting HIV (aOR = 6.44, 95% CI = 2.98~13.94), seeking temporary sexual partners through the Internet (aOR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.27~5.25), consistently using condoms during sex (aOR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.16~0.70), or using condoms sometimes/frequently during sex (aOR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.13~0.68) were independent factors associated with male college students with temporary heterosexual behavior engaging in commercial sex behavior.

Conclusion

Open sexual attitudes, seeking temporary sexual partners through the Internet, high awareness of HIV infection risk, and low condom use are associated factors for male college students engaging in commercial sex behavior. For college students' HIV/AIDS prevention and education interventions, it is necessary to strengthen the prevention of network influence, increase peer education, increase teacher participation in education, enhance college students' risk awareness, advocate for the use of condoms, and promote HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.