BMC Public Health
Volume 15, Issue 1, 2015

Social support and HIV/STDs infections among a probability-based sample of rural married migrant women in Shandong Province, China Infectious Disease epidemiology (Article) (Open Access)

Ma W.* , Kang D. , Song Y. , Wei C. , Marley G.
  • a Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, Shandong Province 250012, China; Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, Shandong Province 250012, China
  • b Institute of AIDS Control and Prevention, Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, China
  • c Nosocomial Infection Control Section, Zhengzhou No.7 People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
  • d Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Californian, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, United States
  • e Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, Shandong Province 250012, China

Abstract

Background: The increasing population of marriage-based migrant women is disproportionally affected by AIDS/STDs in China, and social support plays a critical role. This study aims to describe the social support level received by married migrant women in rural areas in Shandong province in comparison to non-migrant local women, identifies the relevant factors of this social support condition among married migrant women, and observes the correlation between social support level and infection status of AIDS and STDs among this group. Methods: A probability-based sample of 1,076 migrant and 1,195 local women were included in the study. A pre-tested field questionnaire was administered to participants through a direct face-to-face interview. Questionnaire contained questions on socio-demographic information, AIDS and STDs prevalence information and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) which measures objective support, subjective support, and utilization of social support. Results: Compared to local women, married migrant women had lower levels of social support in most dimensions. Multi-variable analysis revealed that relationship with spouse, family average income, number of children, education, engagement and claimed reasons of moving have various correlations with one or all dimensions of social support scores. Higher social support is also related to awareness of infection status of HIV and STDs among this group. Conclusion: Our findings provide further evidence that married migrant women have lower levels of social support which may be related to some social characteristics and their awareness status of AIDS and STDs infection status and that targeted interventions need to be developed for this population. © 2015 Ma et al.

Author Keywords

HIV/AIDS China Social support migrant women

Index Keywords

China HIV Infections Spouses Sampling Studies human epidemiology rural population health service comparative study probability social support Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveys and Questionnaires marriage Humans migrant Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors spouse socioeconomics questionnaire health services awareness adult migration Emigration and Immigration Transients and Migrants
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84947931505&doi=10.1186%2fs12889-015-2508-5&partnerID=40&md5=81cb825a258936b745c228fc96c6a5d0
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-015-2508-5
ISSN: 14712458
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English