Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to AIDS amongst transgender women in Chongqing, China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Transgender women (TGWs) constitute one of the key populations for HIV prevention and control and constitute a high-risk group due to a lack of health services. The aim of this study was to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) related to HIV and knowledge access and needs amongst transgender women in Chongqing, China.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2022 to March 2023. A total of 128 self-identified TGWs were recruited in Chongqing, China, via snowball sampling, and a KAP-related questionnaire was completed via Questionnaire Star.

RESULTS

For the 128 TGWs surveyed effectively, the total knowledge of AIDS-related knowledge was 82.03%, with significant differences in age, education level, marital status, occupation and average monthly income (p < 0.05). Significant differences were obtained in terms of personal attitudes toward AIDS and place of domicile and literacy (p < 0.05) and subjective norms in terms of literacy (p < 0.05). No significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of HIV-related practices. The corresponding values were assigned to knowledge, attitudes or practices. The total scores of the three aspects were 6.77 ± 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.89-9.65) (range: 0-8), 14.22 ± 2.37 (95% CI: 9.57-18.87) (range: 0-18) and 6.66 ± 1.79 (95% CI: 3.16-10.17) (range: 0-9), respectively. The main approaches for TGWs to acquire AIDS knowledge are 'Internet/smartphone' (81.68%), 'TV/radio' (49.62%) and 'special education on AIDS prevention in schools' (48.09%). TGW is more inclined to accept promotional activities such as 'WeChat push' (58.02%), 'peer education' (44.27%) and 'mobile app management' (37.40%). AIDS knowledge indicates that TGW needs to strengthen publicity, including 'transmission routes' (71.76%), 'voluntary counselling and testing knowledge' (67.94%) and 'virus-related knowledge' (64.89%).

CONCLUSIONS

First, the knowledge rate of AIDS amongst TGWs in Chongqing, China, still has room for improvement, and there is a gap between knowledge and behavior. Second, TGWs are tolerant of AIDS and people living with AIDS and have a strong awareness of AIDS prevention. Third, the health department should attach importance to the group of TGW over 35 years old, low-income, and low-educated, and promote social organizations and network platforms to further strengthen the health education and publicity of AIDS from the perspectives of knowledge acquisition and needs.