Eguchi Hisashi, Wada Koji, Smith Derek R
Department of Public Health, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2014 May 2;9(5):e96645. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096645. eCollection 2014.
In many countries, HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected individuals may face discrimination and mistreatment from coworkers. Effective interventions to reduce workplace discrimination are therefore needed to protect these vulnerable populations. The current study investigated potential associations between sociodemographic factors and prejudice toward HIV and HBV/HCV infected colleagues within a Japanese working population.
An online anonymous, nationwide internet survey was administered to a cross-section of approximately 3,000 individuals in Japan. The survey comprised 14 questions focusing on demographics (five items), basic HIV or HBV/HCV knowledge (eight items), and potential prejudice toward HIV or HBV/HCV infected colleagues (one item). The sociodemographic characteristics evaluated were sex, age, educational level, employment status, and individual income; with multiple logistic regression used for the analysis.
In total, 3,055 individuals were recruited for the HIV related survey and 3,129 for the HBV/HCV related survey. Older age was significantly and positively associated with prejudice toward HIV infected colleagues (p<0.01) and negatively associated with prejudice toward HBV/HCV infected colleagues (p<0.01). Statistically significant associations were not observed between other sociodemographic characteristics and potential prejudice toward HIV and HBV/HCV infected coworkers.
Overall, this study suggests that age may be associated with prejudice toward HIV and HBV/HCV infected colleagues among the working age population of Japan. As such, policy makers should consider the age of participants when formulating efforts to reduce prejudice toward HIV and HBV/HCV infected workers.
在许多国家，感染艾滋病毒、乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的个体可能会面临同事的歧视和虐待。因此，需要有效的干预措施来减少工作场所的歧视，以保护这些弱势群体。本研究调查了日本工作人群中社会人口学因素与对感染艾滋病毒及HBV/HCV同事的偏见之间的潜在关联。
对日本约3000名个体进行了一项全国性的在线匿名横断面调查。该调查包括14个问题，重点关注人口统计学（5项）、基本的艾滋病毒或HBV/HCV知识（8项）以及对感染艾滋病毒或HBV/HCV同事的潜在偏见（1项）。评估的社会人口学特征包括性别、年龄、教育水平、就业状况和个人收入；分析采用多元逻辑回归。
总共招募了3055名个体参与艾滋病毒相关调查，3129名参与HBV/HCV相关调查。年龄较大与对感染艾滋病毒同事的偏见呈显著正相关（p<0.01），与对感染HBV/HCV同事的偏见呈负相关（p<0.01）。未观察到其他社会人口学特征与对感染艾滋病毒及HBV/HCV同事的潜在偏见之间存在统计学显著关联。
总体而言，本研究表明年龄可能与日本工作年龄人群中对感染艾滋病毒及HBV/HCV同事的偏见有关。因此，政策制定者在制定减少对感染艾滋病毒及HBV/HCV工人偏见的措施时应考虑参与者的年龄。
