Modeling Covariates of Self-Perceived and Epidemiologic Notions of Risk for Acquiring STIs/HIV among Military Personnel: A Comparative Analysis

Mgbere, Osaro; Monjok, Emmanuel; Abughosh, Susan; Ekong, Ernest; Holstad, Marcia McDonnell; Essien, E. James

doi:10.1007/s10461-011-0126-5

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Highest risk perception was found among individuals with secondary education followed by those with Quranic education with least risk among respondents with higher education. The finding agrees with outcomes of earlier studies in Nigeria (Essien et al, 2007; Fagbamigbe et al, 2011; Mgbere et al, 2013). The direction of relationship between educational level and risk perception in the current study corroborates the finding of Essien et al (2007) that an inverse relationship exists between the variables.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Also, Dibua (2009) investigated the socio-economic and socio-cultural factors predisposing individuals to HIV/AIDS in various high risk groups such as long-distance truck driver, students, commercial sex workers, single parents and street children. Mgbere et al (2013) examined some socio-demographic and selected behavioural features as correlates of self-perception and epidemiologic ideas of risk to sexually transmitted infections and HIV infection in a population of female military personnel. Fayomi (2012) had earlier used both primary and secondary data to establish a positive relationship between poverty level and vulnerability to HIV infection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modelling self-assessed vulnerability to HIV and its associated factors in a HIV-burdened country

Fagbamigbe

Lawal

Idemudia

2017

SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Globally, individuals’ self-assessment of vulnerability to HIV infection is important to maintain safer sexual behaviour and reduce risky behaviours. However, determinants of self-perceived risk of HIV infection are not well documented and differ. We assessed the level of self-perceived vulnerability to HIV infection in Nigeria and also identified its risk factors. Methods: We explored a recent nationally representative data with self-reported vulnerability (‘high’, ‘low’ and ‘no risk at all’) to HIV infection as the outcome of interest. Data were weighted and association between the outcomes and the risk factors determined. We used simple ordered logit regression to model relationship between the outcome variable and risk factors, and controlled for the significant variables in multiple ordered logistic regression at 5% significance level. Results: About 74% had good knowledge of HIV transmission and 6% had experienced STI recently. The likelihood of assessing oneself as having ‘no risk at all’ was 50% and for ‘high chances’ was 1.6%. Self-perceived high risk of HIV was higher among those who recently experienced STI (5.6%) than those who did not (1.7%), and also higher among those who recently engaged in transactional sex and had multiple sexual partners. The odds of good knowledge of HIV transmission on high self-perceived vulnerability to HIV was 19% higher than poor knowledge (OR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.12–1.27). Also, respondents who recently had multiple sexual partners were 72% (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.60–1.86) more likely to report self as having high risk. Younger respondents aged 14–19 years had higher odds of 41% (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.29–1.55) to perceive self as having high vulnerability to HIV than older respondents. Conclusion: High vulnerability to HIV infection was reported among younger respondents, those with history of STIS and those who engage in multiple sexual relations. Despite high level of risky sexual behaviour and good knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention found in this study, self-perceived vulnerability to HIV generally is low. For the low perception found in this study to translate to low chance of HIV infection, there is need for all stakeholders to embark on risk reduction initiatives through sexual education that would minimise risky sexual practices and ensuring availability and affordability of HIV prevention methods.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling self-assessed vulnerability to HIV and its associated factors in a HIV-burdened country

Fagbamigbe

Lawal

Idemudia

2017

SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The present study identifies a number of risk factors for STIs that fall into four categories (demographics, sexual behaviors, socio-cultural factors and health-related factors), differ between measures (STI diagnosis versus self-reports) [ 20 , 42 ] and differ by sex.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and risk factors of sexually transmitted infections among French service members

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionSexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) have always represented a public health concern in the military, yet most studies rely on self-reports among non-random samples of military populations. In addition, most of the studies exploring STI rates among the military focus on US service members. This paper assesses the prevalence and correlates of STIs in the French military using biomarkers and compares self-reported versus diagnosed STIs.MethodsData are drawn from the COSEMIL study, a national sexual health survey conducted in the French military in 2014 and 2015. A random sample of 784 men and 141 women aged 18–57 years completed a self-administered questionnaire and provided biological samples for STI testing. We used logistic regression modeling to identify the correlates of STI diagnosis and self-reports.ResultsThe prevalence of diagnosed STIs was 4.7% [3.8–5.9], mostly due to Chlamydia trachomatis. This rate was four times higher than the 12 months self-reported rate of 1.1% [0.6–2.3]. Reported STI rates were similar among men and women (1.1% versus 1.8%), but diagnosed STI rates were twice as high among females versus males (10.4% versus 4.1%, p = 0.007). There were significant differences in the determinants of reported versus diagnosed STIs. In particular, age and sexual orientation were associated with reported STIs, but not with diagnosed STIs. Conversely, STI counseling and depression were associated with STI diagnosis but not with STI reports.ConclusionThis study underlines the need to use biomarkers in population-based surveys, given the differential and substantial underreporting of STIs. Results also highlight the need for programmatic adaptation to address gender inequalities in STI rates, by developing women’s health services in the French military. Addressing such needs not only benefits women but could also serve as a strategy to reduce overall STI rates as most military women have military partners, increasing the risk of internal transmission.

show abstract

“…To select the covariates included in the model, we estimated bivariate associations between the independent variables of interest and our main outcome, EALPR, using Mantel–Haenszel Chi square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables, and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test for continuous variables. The final model was fit using variables (race, age, HIV knowledge, and education level) that we considered a priori to be important based on previous studies [24, 26, 27] regardless of the results of the bivariate analyses. While we considered including the variable “having sex with men or with both men and women” due to its importance in previous studies, the extremely small proportion endorsing this (1.5%) would not support its use as a covariate.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few studies have assessed discrepancies between perceived and actual risks specifically for HIV [16, 24, 25]. In one study [16] assessing perceived and actual lifetime HIV risk among men who have sex with men (MSM) in six major U.S. cities, while perceiving oneself to be at elevated/moderate risk was associated with actual increased risk behavior, most men perceived themselves to be at low risk of acquiring HIV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Expectations: HIV Risk Behaviors and Misperceptions of Low HIV Risk among Incarcerated Men

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Incarcerated populations have relatively high HIV prevalence but little has been reported about their aggregate HIV risk behaviors or perceptions of risk. A random selection of HIV-negative men (n = 855) entering a US state prison system were surveyed to assess five risk behaviors and his self-perceived HIV risk. Using multivariate logistic regression, we identified factors associated with having elevated actual but low perceived risk (EALPR). Of the 826 men with complete data, 88% were at elevated risk. While 64% of the sample had risk perceptions concordant with their actual risk, 14% had EALPR (with the remainder at low actual but high perceived risk). EALPR rates were lower in those with a pre-incarceration HIV test but higher for those with a negative prison entry HIV test. HIV testing counseling should assess for discordance between actual and perceived risk and communicate the continued risk of HIV despite a negative result.

show abstract

Modeling Covariates of Self-Perceived and Epidemiologic Notions of Risk for Acquiring STIs/HIV among Military Personnel: A Comparative Analysis

Cited by 12 publications

References 30 publications

Modelling self-assessed vulnerability to HIV and its associated factors in a HIV-burdened country

Modelling self-assessed vulnerability to HIV and its associated factors in a HIV-burdened country

Prevalence and risk factors of sexually transmitted infections among French service members

Great Expectations: HIV Risk Behaviors and Misperceptions of Low HIV Risk among Incarcerated Men

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About