Gender and its impact on condom use among HIV male serodiscordant couples / 中华预防医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the gender-based factors which influence the condom use among the HIV serodiscordant couples in selected regions of China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Based on the analysis of the existing case reporting database and convenient sampling in the cross-sectional study, a total of 481 female HIV-negative spouses completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire regarding demographic characters, the knowledge, behaviors and the gender-based factors in five sites of four provinces Sichuan (Zhaojue), Yunnan (Dali), Henan (Weishi) and Guangxi (Lingshan and Luzhai), during June-September 2011. χ(2) analysis and logistic regression were used to study the gender-based factors influencing condom use among the participants.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 481 female HIV-negative spouses, the average age was (35.1 ± 6.7) years, and the proportion of Han and Yi nationality were high, 43.5% (209/481) and 41.8% (201/481), respectively. The awareness of knowledge related to HIV spousal transmission was high (≥ 79.6%). A total of 86.9% (418/481) used condom more frequently after informed the status of HIV infection of their spouses, and the condom use consistency was 56.6% (272/481). A total of 57.6% (277/481) reported low sexual relationship power; 34.5% (166/481) experienced forced sex in the past 1 year. And the proportion of condom use self-efficacy from 0 to 3 scores were 12.7% (61/481), 23.9% (115/481), 8.7% (42/481) and 54.7% (263/481), respectively (median = 3). Han and other nationality were significantly more likely to use condom consistently than Yi, with odds ratio (95%CI) of 0.01 (0.00 - 0.03) and 0.01 (0.00 - 0.04), and the female spouses with higher condom use self-efficacy used condom more consistently than the lower ones, with odds ratio (95%CI) of 0.20(0.11 - 0.34).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The female spouses with higher condom use self-efficacy were more likely to use condom consistently after excluding the confounding effect of nationality.</p>