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Predictors of HIV Testing among Orphaned Youths in Three East African Countries

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Abstract

In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV prevalence is high, HIV is a leading cause of death among youths. Orphaned and separated youths are an especially vulnerable group, yet we know little about what influences their testing behavior. We conducted multiple logistical regression to examine theory-based predictors of past-year HIV testing among 423 orphaned and separated youths in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. We also conducted moderation, assessing whether predictors varied by sex. Over one-third of our sample reported past-year HIV testing. Those with greater perceived social support and those who reported sexual HIV risk behavior were more likely to report past-year testing. Furthermore, boys who reported ever previously testing for HIV were more likely, a year later, to report past-year HIV testing. In conclusion, our findings have important implications for intervention development, including the potential for enhanced perceived social support to positively influence HIV testing among orphaned and separated youths.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply thankful for the research team and research participants, without whom this study would not have been possible. The parent study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5R01HD046345). This study was partly supported by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI50410). Dr. Pack was partially funded by the Donald and Alvene Buckley Summer Research Fellowship and the Gillings School of Global Public Health Annual Fund Scholarship. This study is an expansion of Dr. Pack’s dissertation at UNC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Allison Pack, Suzanne Maman, Heathe Luz McNaughton Reyes & Carol Golin

  2. Global Health Division, RTI International, Washington, D.C, USA

    Laura Nyblade

  3. Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathryn Whetten & Christine L. Gray

  4. Duke Global Health Institute, Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathryn Whetten & Christine L. Gray

  5. Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathryn Whetten

  6. Odum Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Catherine Zimmer

  7. Division of General Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Carol Golin

  8. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Drive, 302 Rosenau Hall, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7440, USA

    Allison Pack

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Correspondence to Allison Pack.

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Ethical Approval

Ethical approval for POFO was provided by the Duke University Institutional Review Board (IRB), as well as by local IRBs and regulatory organizations in each of the six global study sites [21]. This secondary analysis of deidentified data was deemed non-human subjects research by The University of North Carolina’s Office of Human Research Ethics.

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Pack, A., Maman, S., Reyes, H.L.M. et al. Predictors of HIV Testing among Orphaned Youths in Three East African Countries. AIDS Behav 25, 1257–1266 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03104-9

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