Table 3.
Factors associated with seeing a medical doctor in response to potential STI symptoms1
| Bivariate | Multivariate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
No M (SD)/n (%) |
Yes M (SD)/n (%) |
OR | 95% CI | p value | AOR | 95% CI | p value | |
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||||||
| Age | 25.3 (6.38) | 26.3 (6.82) | 1.02 | 1.00, 1.05 | .096 | |||
| Race | ||||||||
| Black | 154 (33.4) | 307 (66.6) | REF | REF | ||||
| Colored | 27 (37.5) | 45 (62.5) | 0.81 | 0.49, 1.35 | .424 | 0.72 | 0.40, 1.32 | .292 |
| Other | 14 (26.9) | 38 (73.1) | 1.40 | 0.74, 2.64 | .306 | 1.39 | 0.62, 3.12 | .427 |
| Education | ||||||||
| Low | 107 (40.2) | 159 (59.8) | REF | |||||
| High | 87 (27.4) | 231 (72.6) | 1.79 | 1.26, 2.53 | .001 | |||
| Ever married | 1.99 | 0.97, 4.08 | .061 | |||||
| No | 185 (34.3) | 354 (65.7) | ||||||
| Yes | 10 (20.8) | 38 (79.2) | ||||||
| Country | ||||||||
| South Africa | 115 (32.3) | 241 (67.7) | REF | REF | ||||
| Botswana | 7 (13.7) | 44 (86.3) | 3.40 | 1.50, 7.69 | .003 | 2.82 | 1.10, 7.25 | .031 |
| Namibia | 54 (48.2) | 58 (51.8) | 0.45 | 0.30, 0.69 | <.001 | 0.59 | 0.34, 1.01 | .054 |
| Zimbabwe | 19 (27.9) | 49 (72.1) | 1.32 | 0.76, 2.32 | .327 | 1.08 | 0.52, 2.22 | .843 |
| Regular income | ||||||||
| No | 112 (37.6) | 186 (62.4) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 79 (28.2) | 201 (71.8) | 1.53 | 1.08, 2.18 | .017 | |||
| Medical Aid | ||||||||
| No | 142 (38.4) | 228 (61.6) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 51 (24.2) | 160 (75.8) | 1.95 | 1.34, 2.85 | .001 | |||
| Psychosocial characteristics | ||||||||
| Sexual identity | ||||||||
| Lesbian or gay | 151 (33.7) | 297 (66.3) | REF | |||||
| Other | 42 (30.9) | 94 (69.1) | 1.14 | 0.75, 1.72 | .540 | |||
| Gender role identity | ||||||||
| Masculinity | 2.61 (1.31) | 2.55 (1.19) | 0.96 | 0.84, 1.11 | .611 | |||
| Femininity | 2.77 (1.36) | 3.01 (1.23) | 1.16 | 1.01, 1.33 | .038 | |||
| Concealment of sexual orientation | 2.15 (0.90) | 2.02 (0.85) | 0.84 | 0.69, 1.02 | .074 | |||
| Internalized homophobia | 1.70 (0.70) | 1.53 (0.64) | 0.68 | 0.53, 0.88 | .004 | |||
| Sense of belonging | ||||||||
| Sense of belonging to community | 2.82 (0.65) | 2.88 (0.66) | 1.14 | 0.88, 1.49 | .330 | |||
| Sense of belonging to LGBT community | 3.13 (0.62) | 3.32 (0.58) | 1.67 | 1.24, 2.24 | .001 | |||
| Sexual experience | ||||||||
| No. of female partners in past 3 months | ||||||||
| 0 partners | 17 (27.0) | 46 (73.0) | REF | REF | ||||
| 1 partner | 89 (28.6) | 222 (71.4) | 1.38 | 0.96, 1.97 | .083 | 0.91 | 0.45, 1.86 | .800 |
| 2 or more partners | 69 (38.5) | 110 (61.5) | 0.63 | 0.43, 0.92 | .016 | 0.63 | 0.30, 1.35 | .236 |
| Consensual sex with man in past 3 months | ||||||||
| No | 151 (31.1) | 334 (68.9) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 44 (43.1) | 58 (56.9) | 0.60 | 0.39, 0.92 | .020 | |||
| Forced sex with women | ||||||||
| No | 146 (29.6) | 347 (70.4) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 49 (52.1) | 45 (47.9) | 0.39 | 0.25, 0.61 | <.001 | |||
| Forced sex with men | ||||||||
| No | 139 (31.4) | 303 (68.6) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 56 (38.6) | 89 (61.4) | 0.73 | 0.49, 1.08 | .112 | |||
| Transactional sex with women | ||||||||
| No | 154 (30.9) | 344 (69.1) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 41 (46.1) | 48 (53.9) | 0.52 | 0.33, 0.83 | .006 | |||
| Transactional sex with man | ||||||||
| No | 170 (32.4) | 355 (67.6) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 25 (40.3) | 37 (59.7) | 0.71 | 0.41, 1.20 | .211 | |||
| Sexual health | ||||||||
| Ever received STI/HIV information specifically for WSM | ||||||||
| No | 126 (35.1) | 233 (64.9) | REF | |||||
| Yes | 69 (30.3) | 159 (69.7) | 1.25 | 0.87, 1.78 | .226 | |||
| STI knowledge | 1.31 (0.69) | 1.41 (0.71) | 1.25 | 0.97, 1.60 | .089 | |||
| Knowledge about HIV transmission | 7.17 (1.68) | 7.65 (1.37) | 1.23 | 1.09, 1.39 | .001 | |||
| Perceived risk of HIV | ||||||||
| No risk | 119 (33.8) | 233 (66.2) | REF | REF | ||||
| Some risk | 70 (32.0) | 149 (68.0) | 1.09 | 0.76, 1.56 | .649 | 1.52 | 0.96, 2.41 | .074 |
| No. of STI symptoms in past year | 2.59 (2.60) | 1.52 (1.88) | 0.81 | 0.74, 0.88 | <.001 | 0.78 | 0.70, 0.87 | <.001 |
| Diagnosed STI in past year | ||||||||
| No | 179 (33.1) | 362 (66.9) | REF | REF | ||||
| Yes | 16 (34.8) | 30 (65.2) | 0.93 | 0.49, 1.75 | .815 | 4.85 | 1.30, 9.82 | .014 |
| Ever tested for HIV | ||||||||
| No | 60 (48.4) | 64 (51.6) | REF | REF | ||||
| Yes | 135 (29.2) | 328 (70.8) | 2.28 | 1.52, 3.42 | <.001 | 2.36 | 1.45, 3.83 | .001 |
| Self-reported HIV status | ||||||||
| Positive | 18 (43.9) | 23 (56.1) | REF | |||||
| Negative or don’t know | 177 (32.4) | 369 (67.6) | 1.63 | 0.86, 3.10 | .135 | |||
| Mental distress | ||||||||
| Frequency of alcohol consumption | 1.77 (1.52) | 1.66 (1.47) | 0.95 | 0.84, 1.07 | .413 | |||
| Ever used drugs | ||||||||
| No drug | 99 (33.8) | 194 (66.2) | REF | |||||
| Some drug use | 96 (32.7) | 198 (67.3) | 1.05 | 0.75, 1.48 | .770 | |||
| Mental distress | 2.23 (0.92) | 2.07 (0.84) | 0.81 | 0.66, 0.98 | .032 | |||
| Health Care | ||||||||
| Being open about orientation to medical providers | 2.72 (1.11) | 2.82 (1.06) | 1.10 | 0.93, 1.30 | .281 | |||
| Expected positive impact of disclosing orientation to medical provider | 2.65 (1.10) | 2.92 (1.03) | 1.27 | 1.08, 1.50 | .005 | |||
1.
Due to missing values, not all numbers add up to 591. For range of scale scores, see Table 1.