พฤติกรรมเสี่ยงทางเพศต่อการติดเชื้อเอชไอวีในกลุ่มเยาวชนข้ามชาติที่เข้ามาทำงานในอำเภอเมือง จังหวัดเชียงใหม่

Abstract

Nowadays, the number of immigrant workers in Chiang Mai has continuously increased, especially youth workers who are in the beginning of the reproductive age. These groups of people were fragile. They have problems in communication, lack of opportunities in access to health care and basic public health services, information about reproductive health and family plan. Therefore, they could be characterized as groups of people who have higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection. This study aimed at explaining sexual risk behaviors for HIV transmission which were defined as; having first sexual intercourse at young age, having more than one partners, and not using condoms. Moreover, this study also aimed to study factors related to sexual risk behaviors for HIV transmission among 442 immigrant youth workers age between 15 to 24 years old in Mueang District, Chiang Mai Province. Data was collected by interview questionnaires. Results of the study showed that immigrant youth workers had sexual risk behaviors for HIV transmission as follows; 1.) Having first sexual intercourse at young age: 57.0 percent of them used to have sexual intercourse. Most of them had first sexual intercourse at the age of 18 years old or younger and the average age of their first sexual intercourse was 18.2 years old, 2.) Having more than one partners, 36.9 percent had more than 1 partner and most of them had 2-4 partners, 3.) Not using condoms: 63.5 percent of them never used condom. The most frequent condom use behavior was used sometimes, followed by used regularly. Furthermore, condom use was different according to different types of partners. It was found that they used condom regularly when having sex with sex workers and use less with temporary partners respectively. Factors related to having first sexual intercourse at young age were; having education in their home country (p=0.001), having identity cards for staying in Thailand (p=0.008), family/ person whom they lived with (p<0.001), duration for living in Thailand (p=0.002) and duration for living in Chiang Mai (p=0.041). Factors related to having more than one partners were; gender (p < 0.001), having education in Thailand (p = 0.001), knowledge on HIV/AIDS (p=0.008), having identity cards for staying in Thailand (p=0.038), receiving blood test for HIV (p=0.015), pornography accessing (p<0.001), using drugs before having sexual intercourse (p=0.001) and family/ person whom they lived with (p<0.001). Factors related to the behavior of not using condom; gender (p = 0.001), having education in Thailand (p<0.001), knowledge on HIV/AIDS (p=0.001), having identity cards for staying in Thailand (p<0.001), right to medical treatment (p=0.003), salary per month (p=0.009), having HIV test (p=0.002), receiving knowledge about sexual transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS prevention in Thailand (p=0.010), pornography access (p<0.001), death of family members or acquaintance of HIV/AIDS (p<0.001), duration for living in Thailand (p<0.001) and duration for living in Chiang Mai (p<0.001). Results of this study can be used as guidelines for communicating with immigrant youth workers to improve their knowledge and understanding about sexual transmitted diseases. Moreover, it can be used to design and implement HIV preventive measures for immigrant youth workers in light of the integration of ASEAN community in the near future.