Open Communication about Reproductive Health is Associated with Comprehensive HIV Knowledge & Non-stigmatizing Attitude among Indonesian Youth: Cross-sectional Study
Received: November 3, 2021; Accepted: April 29, 2022.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: HIV prevention among youths seems to be under-prioritized compared to other key populations. HIV knowledge and stigma is an important part of HIV prevention. In order to inform HIV prevention among youths, we aim to quantitatively analyse the association between open communication regarding sexuality and sexual health with comprehensive HIV knowledge & non-stigmatizing attitude in Indonesia.
Method: We used data from Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) 2017. Analysis included unmarried men and women aged 15-25 years old. Comprehensive knowledge and stigmatizing attitude were defined based on the definitions provided by IDHS 2017. Open sex communication was defined as the number of people one can openly discuss about sexuality and sexual health in their direct network of friends, family, and service providers, ranging from 0 (zero) to a maximum of 7 (seven). Primary analysis was conducted using binomial logistic regression with weighting adjustments.
Results: Final analysis included 22,864 respondents. As much as 22% of youths have no one to openly discuss sexual matters in their direct network, only 14.1% have comprehensive HIV knowledge, and 85.9% show stigmatizing attitudes. Youths mostly discuss sex with their friends (55.2%) and are less likely to discuss it with family members, indicating the dominance of peer-to-peer communication. Multivariate analysis shows having more networks to communicate about sexuality and sexual health is associated with increased HIV knowledge and reduced stigmatizing attitude.
Conclusions: Having a higher degree of open sex communication in one's social network is associated with better HIV knowledge and reduced stigmatizing attitude.
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