Cameroon Psychology Forum, Immeuble Mony Onana, Yaounde, Cameroon.
J Int AIDS Soc. 2010 Feb 4;13:5. doi: 10.1186/1758-2652-13-5.
This quantitative cross-sectional study examines sexual behaviour of a target group of hearing-impaired persons in Yaounde, the capital city of the Republic of Cameroon. It measures their HIV prevalence to enable assessment of their sexual vulnerability and to help reduce the gap in existing HIV serology data among people with disabilities in general and the deaf in particular.
The snowball sampling procedure was adopted as an adequate approach to meet this hard-to-reach group. A total of 118 deaf participants were interviewed for the behavioural component, using sign language as a means of data collection, while 101 participants underwent HIV serology testing. Descriptive analyses were done for behavioural data with Epi info software, while sera were tested by health personnel, using rapid and confirmation test reagents.
From the results, it was clear that the hearing impaired were highly involved in risky sexual practices, as observed through major sexual indicators, such as: age at first sexual intercourse; condom use; and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and AIDS. Furthermore, it was noted that the HIV prevalence rate of the hearing impaired in the capital of Cameroon was 4%, close to the prevalence in the city's general population (4.7%).
Such results suggest that there is a need for in-depth behavioural research and serological studies in this domain to better understand the determinants of risky sexual behaviour among the hearing impaired, and to propose operational prevention approaches for this group.
本定量横断面研究调查了喀麦隆共和国首都雅温得的一组听力受损者的性行为。它测量了他们的艾滋病毒流行率，以评估他们的性脆弱性，并帮助缩小一般残疾人和特别是聋人之间现有艾滋病毒血清学数据的差距。
采用雪球抽样程序作为接触这一难以接触群体的适当方法。共有 118 名聋人参与者接受了行为部分的访谈，使用手语作为数据收集手段，而 101 名参与者接受了艾滋病毒血清学检测。使用 Epi info 软件对行为数据进行描述性分析，而血清由卫生人员使用快速和确认检测试剂进行检测。
从结果中可以清楚地看出，听力受损者高度参与危险的性行为，这可以通过主要的性指标观察到，例如：首次性行为的年龄；使用避孕套；以及对性传播感染和艾滋病的认识。此外，还注意到喀麦隆首都聋人的艾滋病毒流行率为 4%，接近该市总人口的流行率（4.7%）。
这些结果表明，有必要在这一领域进行深入的行为研究和血清学研究，以更好地了解听力受损者危险性行为的决定因素，并为这一群体提出可行的预防方法。
