Document Type
Article
Department
Population Health (East Africa)
Abstract
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic. Self-efficacy is an important individual psychosocial factor associated with access to and use of health and HIV-related services. We estimated HIV testing prevalence and examined the relationship between HIV testing self-efficacy and self-reported HIV testing behavior among young MSM (YMSM) in Myanmar. We enrolled 585 MSM aged 18–24 years from six urban areas using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) technique. RDS analyses were performed to provide estimates for the key outcome of interest. More than a third (34.5%) had never been tested for HIV, whereas 27.5% and 38.0% had their most recent HIV test more than three months and within the past three months from the time of interview, respectively. Young MSM who reported high self-efficacy (adjusted relative risk ratio [ARR]=7.35, 95%CI = 2.29–23.5) and moderate self-efficacy (ARR = 8.61, 95%CI = 3.09–24.0) were more likely to report having tested for HIV in the past three months compared to their counterparts who reported low self-efficacy. Findings highlight a positive association between self-efficacy and HIV testing uptake, indicating a potential causal relationship. Further research is needed to examine the direction of this association and inform future public health interventions targeting YMSM in Myanmar.
Publication (Name of Journal)
International Journal of STD and AIDS
Recommended Citation
Pham, M. D.,
Aung, P. P.,
Agius, P. A.,
Pasricha, N.,
Oo, S. M.,
Tun, W.,
Bajracharya, A.,
Luchters, S.
(2019). Relationship between self-efficacy and HIV testing uptake among young men who have sex with men in Myanmar: a cross-sectional analysis. International Journal of STD and AIDS, 30(1), 20-28.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_popul_health/14
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License