IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i19p6878-d1252837.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge and Attitudes towards HIV and HCV among the Population Attending the Fast-Track Cities Mobile Unit in Brescia, Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Viola

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Beatrice Formenti

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy
    UNESCO Chair in Training and Empowering Human Resources for Health Development in Resource-Limited Countries, University of Brescia, Piazza del Mercato, 25121 Brescia, Italy)

  • Stefania Arsuffi

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Itala Polesini

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Emanuele Focà

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Francesco Castelli

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy
    UNESCO Chair in Training and Empowering Human Resources for Health Development in Resource-Limited Countries, University of Brescia, Piazza del Mercato, 25121 Brescia, Italy)

  • Eugenia Quiros-Roldan

    (Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Piazzale Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

Abstract

The Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department of the University of Brescia organized free rapid screening tests for HIV and HCV as part of the Fast-Track City commitment. A cross-sectional study was conducted, consisting of an anonymous multiple-choice questionnaire that was administered to individuals who underwent the screening or consultation. The study aimed to compare knowledge and attitudes towards HIV and HCV between age groups (18–40 vs. >40) and sexual orientations (heterosexual vs. LGBTQ+). Overall, 333 questionnaires were completed. Overall, only 107 (32%) of respondents knew how HIV is transmitted. Major differences were shown between different age groups, where people under the age of 40 had a significantly higher correct response rate than people over 40 (n = 101; 39% versus n = 6; 7.8%, p < 0.00001). Similarly, almost half of LGBTQI+ people (n = 28; 44.4%) gave the correct answer, versus 30% (n = 79) of heterosexuals ( p = 0.0359). Only 9.6% of the population demonstrated high levels of knowledge for both HIV and HCV. Our study highlights that misconceptions about HIV and HCV should be addressed in prevention and education programs, whose target should also be specific populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Viola & Beatrice Formenti & Stefania Arsuffi & Itala Polesini & Emanuele Focà & Francesco Castelli & Eugenia Quiros-Roldan, 2023. "Knowledge and Attitudes towards HIV and HCV among the Population Attending the Fast-Track Cities Mobile Unit in Brescia, Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(19), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:19:p:6878-:d:1252837
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6878/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6878/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malik Sallam & Ali M. Alabbadi & Sarah Abdel-Razeq & Kareem Battah & Leen Malkawi & Mousa A. Al-Abbadi & Azmi Mahafzah, 2022. "HIV Knowledge and Stigmatizing Attitude towards People Living with HIV/AIDS among Medical Students in Jordan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Jun, Seung-Pyo & Yoo, Hyoung Sun & Lee, Jae-Seong, 2021. "The impact of the pandemic declaration on public awareness and behavior: Focusing on COVID-19 google searches," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Puhr, Harald & Müllner, Jakob, 2022. "Foreign to all but fluent in many: The effect of multinationality on shock resilience," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    2. Agata Skrzat-Klapaczyńska & Justyna D. Kowalska & Larisa Afonina & Svitlana Antonyak & Tatevik Balayan & Josip Begovac & Dominik Bursa & Gordana Dragovic & Deniz Gokengin & Arjan Harxhi & David Jilich, 2022. "The Management of HIV Care Services in Central and Eastern Europe: Data from the Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe Network Group," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Peer Henri Kieweg & Stefanie Schöberl & Gabriele Palozzi, 2021. "The Role of Communication In COVID-19 Crisis Management: Findings about Information Behavior of German and Italian Young People," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 12(5), pages 263-288, October.
    4. Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Charteris, Ailie & Obojska, Lidia & Brzeszczyński, Janusz, 2024. "Capturing the timing of crisis evolution: A machine learning and directional wavelet coherence approach to isolating event-specific uncertainty using Google searches with an application to COVID-19," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    5. Denis Bernardeau-Moreau, 2022. "Health Crisis and the Dual Reflexivity of Knowledge," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-7, April.
    6. Caetano, Marco Antonio Leonel, 2021. "Political activity in social media induces forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:19:p:6878-:d:1252837. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.