Determinants of People's Attitutude Towards People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Ghana
Date
2014-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
The study on attitude towards PLWHA was conducted as part of the effort at
understanding some of the problems that face PLWHA in Ghana, with the general objective
of examining the magnitude of the problem of attitude towards PLWHA. A total of 4916
women aged 15-49 years and 4568 men aged 15-59 years were interviewed in the 2008 Ghana
Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), however 5472 respondents consisting of 2816
women aged 15-49 years and 2656 men aged 15-59 years were used for the analysis because
they responded to the questions on HIV.
The qualitative method was used to collect the primary data for the study. In-depth
interview was used to collect data from PLWHA in Tema and Agomanya. The study targeted
150 PLWHA, 80 at Agomanya (45 women and 35 men) and 70 in Tema (40 women and 30
men), but the number was limited to 60, 25 from Tema (14 women and 11 men) and 35 from
Agomanya (21 women and 14 men) because these were the PLWHA who were willing to co-
operate. The women were aged 20-54 years whiles the men were aged 21-57 years. Purposive
sampling was used to collect data for the study, that is, interviewing people who have been
diagnosed as having the disease.
Univariate, biavariate and multivariate analyses techniques were used in analyzing and
presenting the result. The univariate methods such as frequency distributions were used to
describe the distribution of respondents by selected socio-demographic characteristics,
comprehensive knowledge about AIDS (Knowledge of HIV prevention methods,
misconception about AIDS and Knowledge of HIV transmission) and attitude towards
PLWHA.
The bivariate analysis seeks to investigate the association between the independent
variables, (socio- demographic characteristics) and the intermediate variables (Comprehensive
knowledge about AIDS, Knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about AIDS
and Knowledge of HIV transmission), Independent and dependent variables (attitude towards
PLWHA). Bivariate analysis was also conducted between the intermediate variable
(Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS, its components which are knowledge of HIV
prevention methods, misconception about AIDS and knowledge of HIV transmission) and the
dependent variable (attitude towards PLWHA). The chi-square test was used to test the
differences between proportions at alpha level of 0.05.
Ordered logistic regression model was used to determine the socio-demographic
factors that predict respondents attitude towards PLWHA controlling for the level of
comprehensive knowledge of respondents about AIDS. The outcome variable for the
regression model is attitude towards PLWHA. The independent variable (socio- demographic
factors) are sex, age, level of education, marital status, religious affiliation, ethnicity, wealth
index, occupation and type of place of residence. Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS is a
scale measurement made up of knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about
AIDS and knowledge of HIV transmission was treated as the intermediate variable.
The multivariate analysis also revealed that sex, marital status, education, wealth
index and comprehensive knowledge about AIDS are statistically significant in predicting
attitude towards PLWHA. The findings from the multivariate analysis also confirms the result
from the bivariate analysis and the qualitative data.
The study also confirmed all the three hypotheses namely:
(i) Education is positively related to positive attitude towards PLWHA
(ii) Wealth index is positively related to positive attitude towards PLWHA
(iii) Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS is positively related to positive attitude
towards PLWHA
The study found out that the explanatory factors that contributed to attitude towards
PLWHA are sex, education, marital status, wealth index and comprehensive knowledge about
AIDS. In addition to these factors, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, occupation and type of
place of residence have been found to be important factors in understanding attitude towards
PLWHA.
Based on the findings of the study the following recommendation are made:
1) Erreneous beliefs and misconceptions are obstacles in fighting against stigmatization
and discrimination and also tend to encourage the spread of HIV disease. Since more
than 60 per cent of the respondents have some misconception about AIDS, programme
implementor should promote and sustain their IEC (Information Education
Communication interventions.
2) To control the spread of the disease, it is crucial to address stigmatization
discrimination against those with the disease. As a result of reduced stigma, those
infected may be more likely to access the health system earlier without fear of being
sigmatized, judged, blamed or discriminated against. Attempt at promoting positive
attitude towards PLWHA should continue to be a major component of GAC’s
programmes. The use of community leaders in communication and education effort is
a key strategy for disseminating accurate information about AIDS to most people.
3) Since education is significantly associated with attitude towards PLWHA, it is
essential for the Ministry of Education in Ghana to incorporate appropriate HIV
education and information about other sources of the disease into school curricular.
But the out of school population should also be targetted for education on HIV
4) Lastly, community and church mobilization, political involvement, policy
development and health education are important and necessary to challenge
misconception about the disease and change stigmatizing, discriminating and negative
attitude towards PLWHA.
Description
Thesis (PhD) - University of Ghana, 2014
Keywords
HIV/AIDS, Diagnose, Stigmatization, Attitudes