A qualitative study on high risk behaviors of HIV/AIDS among young adult males in Shandong Province / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To identify high risk behaviors and infection related factors among young adult males diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Shandong Province, to provide evidence for targeted AIDS prevention and control strategies.@*Methods@#By using convient sampling method, an face to face in depth interview on HIV related behaviors was conducted among young adult males newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Shandong Province in July 2021.@*Results@#A total of 31 young adult males diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were interviewed. All were male and infected through homosexuality behavior. Average age was (20.6±1.8) years. Totally 90.3% (28/31) were enrolled in tertiary education at the time of diagnosis. The findings revealed that 93.5% (29/31) of participants got infection due to unprotected homosexual behavior with the temporary partner whose HIV infection status was unknown, and 86.2% (25/29) got in touch with these temporary partner by social software. The awareness rate of knowledge about AIDS among all the participants was 100%, however, 83.9% (26/31) reported occasion condom usage while having homosexual behavior, and 16.1% (5/31) never did. Totally 74.2% (23/31) of the young adult males diagnosed with HIV/AIDS had a history of HIV testing before diagnosis.@*Conclusion@#The primary high risk behavior of HIV infection in young adult students are unawareness of HIV infection status for temporary sexual partner and the separation of knowing and doing. A targeted strategy should be developed to control the spread of HIV in young adult students.