Shen Jie, Xu Junfang
Center for Health Policy Studies, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Nanhu Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nanhu District Health and Wellness Bureau, Jiaxing, China.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Dec;13(12):5575-5583. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_651_24. Epub 2024 Dec 9.
Previous studies have found that people with low participation in social activities and living alone were prone to have risky sexual behaviors, while people with high participation in social activities were less prone to have risky sexual behaviors. Based on the above assumptions, we conducted an analysis on elderly population's social networks and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risky behaviors in China. In the survey study, considering the sensitivity of sexual behavior, HIV risk behavior of the elderly population is more difficult to measure, so the intermediate variable of HIV perceptions was used instead of the sexual behavioral variable.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in July to September 2023 among the elderly aged ≥ 50 years in China to measure the social networks with the Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS) and to measure the HIV perceptions of the elderly with the degree of knowledge of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention and treatment and the degree of discrimination of HIV/AIDS patients, and the data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 27.0 software. Statistical analysis methods included descriptive analyses such as frequency, percentage, mean ± standard deviation, and median, two independent samples -test analysis, and multivariate logistic regression model analysis.
Among the 1022 elderly people surveyed, the proportion of those with weak and strong levels of social support was 46.9% and 53.1%, respectively; the proportion of those with low, medium, and high levels of HIV knowledge perceptions was 4.8%, 5.9%, and 89.3%, respectively; and the proportion of those with low, medium, and high levels of attitudinal perceptions was 24.7%, 35.0%, and 40.3%, respectively. Based on the Goodman-Kruskal Gamma test, it was found that there was a positive correlation between social support and HIV knowledge perceptions in the elderly population, and there was a negative correlation between social support and HIV attitudinal perceptions in the elderly population. Ethnicity, current occupation or pre-retirement occupation, personal average after-tax monthly income, attitudinal perceptions, and social support were the influencing factors for the knowledge perceptions in the elderly population ( < 0.05); literacy, number of children, mode of residence, personal average monthly income after tax, knowledge perceptions, and social support were the influencing factors of attitudinal perceptions in the elderly population ( < 0.05).
There is a correlation between social networks and HIV perceptions in China's elderly population, which is positively correlated with HIV knowledge perceptions and negatively correlated with HIV attitudinal perceptions, and it is important to improve the HIV prevention and knowledge of the elderly population and reduce their HIV-related discrimination.
以往研究发现，社会活动参与度低且独居的人群更容易出现危险性行为，而社会活动参与度高的人群则较不容易出现危险性行为。基于上述假设，我们对中国老年人群的社会网络与人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）危险性行为进行了分析。在该调查研究中，考虑到性行为的敏感性，老年人群的HIV危险性行为更难测量，因此使用HIV认知这一中间变量替代性行为变量。
于2023年7月至9月在中国≥50岁的老年人中开展一项横断面研究，采用社会支持评定量表（SSRS）测量社会网络，采用获得性免疫缺陷综合征（AIDS）防治知识知晓程度和对HIV/AIDS患者的歧视程度测量老年人的HIV认知，并使用SPSS 27.0软件对数据进行统计分析。统计分析方法包括频率、百分比、均值±标准差、中位数等描述性分析、两独立样本t检验分析以及多因素logistic回归模型分析。
在1022名被调查老年人中，社会支持水平弱和强的比例分别为46.9%和53.1%；HIV知识认知水平低、中、高的比例分别为4.8%、5.9%和89.3%；态度认知水平低、中、高的比例分别为24.7%、35.0%和40.3%。基于古德曼-克鲁斯卡尔伽马检验发现，老年人群中社会支持与HIV知识认知呈正相关，社会支持与HIV态度认知呈负相关。民族、当前职业或退休前职业、个人月均税后收入、态度认知和社会支持是老年人群知识认知的影响因素（P<0.05）；文化程度、子女数量、居住方式、个人月均税后收入、知识认知和社会支持是老年人群态度认知的影响因素（P<0.05）。
中国老年人群的社会网络与HIV认知之间存在相关性，与HIV知识认知呈正相关，与HIV态度认知呈负相关，提高老年人群的HIV预防和知识水平并减少其与HIV相关的歧视具有重要意义。
