Table 5.
HIV knowledge among adolescents living with HIV from 11 ART clinics in Cambodia
| HIV knowledge | Total (n = 328) |
Males (n = 169) |
Females (n = 159) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | P-value* | |
| HIV is a virus that attacks a person’s immune system | 0.45 | |||
| True (correct) | 263 (80.2) | 140 (82.8) | 123 (77.4) | |
| False | 44 (13.4) | 20 (11.8) | 24 (15.1) | |
| Don’t know | 21 (6.4) | 9 (5.3) | 12 (7.5) | |
| The cells of the immune system that fight infection are called CD4 cells | 0.03 | |||
| True (correct) | 203 (61.9) | 116 (68.6) | 87 (54.7) | |
| False | 22 (6.7) | 8 (4.7) | 14 (8.8) | |
| Don’t know | 103 (31.4) | 45 (26.6) | 58 (36.5) | |
| The amount of HIV in a person’s blood is called viral load | 0.004 | |||
| True (correct) | 160 (48.8) | 97 (57.4) | 63 (39.6) | |
| False | 26 (7.9) | 13 (7.7) | 13 (8.2) | |
| Don’t know | 142 (43.3) | 59 (34.9) | 83 (52.2) | |
| There is a cure for AIDS | 0.38 | |||
| True (correct) | 138 (42.1) | 67 (39.6) | 71 (44.7) | |
| False | 165 (50.3) | 93 (53.8) | 74 (46.5) | |
| Don’t know | 25 (7.6) | 11 (6.5) | 14 (8.8) | |
| You can tell a person has HIV by looking at him or her | 0.09 | |||
| True (incorrect) | 46 (14.0) | 29 (17.2) | 17 (10.7) | |
| False | 269 (82.0) | 136 (80.5) | 133 (83.6) | |
| Don’t know | 13 (4.0) | 4 (2.4) | 9 (5.7) | |
| A person with HIV will stay healthy if their CD4 cells are high and their viral load is low | 0.99 | |||
| True (correct) | 284 (86.6) | 146 (86.4) | 138 (86.8) | |
| False | 23 (7.0) | 12 (7.1) | 11 (6.9) | |
| Don’t know | 21 (6.4) | 11 (6.5) | 10 (6.3) | |
| Even though a person with HIV may feel healthy, the virus can still be damaging his or her immune system | 0.86 | |||
| True (correct) | 248 (75.6) | 127 (75.1) | 121 (76.1) | |
| False | 65 (19.8) | 35 (20.7) | 30 (18.9) | |
| Don’t know | 15 (4.6) | 7 (4.1) | 8 (5.0) | |
| If sexual partners are both living with HIV, they don’t have to use condoms | 0.07 | |||
| True (incorrect) | 61 (36.1) | 64 (40.3) | ||
| False | 89 (52.7) | 66 (41.5) | ||
| Don’t know | 19 (11.2) | 29 (18.2) | ||
| If people living with HIV take medicine, they don’t have to use condoms | 0.005 | |||
| True (incorrect) | 86 (26.2) | 41 (24.3) | 45 (28.3) | |
| False | 193 (58.8) | 112 (66.3) | 81 (50.9) | |
| Don’t know | 49 (14.9) | 16 (9.5) | 33 (20.8) | |
| It is okay for people living with HIV to miss their medicines | 0.02 | |||
| True (incorrect) | 43 (13.1) | 14 (8.3) | 29 (18.2) | |
| False | 277 (83.5) | 148 (87.6) | 126 (79.2) | |
| Don’t know | 11 (3.4) | 7 (4.1) | 4 (2.5) | |
Values are number (%) for categorical variables and mean (standard deviation) for continuous variables
* Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test as appropriate was used for continuous variables and Student’s t-test for continuous variables