Abstract: HIV Testing among Sexually Experienced Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Young Women: Association with Routine Gynecological Care (RGC) (Society for Social Work and Research 14th Annual Conference: Social Work Research: A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES)
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12419 HIV Testing among Sexually Experienced Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Young Women: Association with Routine Gynecological Care (RGC)

Schedule:
Friday, January 15, 2010: 8:00 AM
Pacific Concourse O (Hyatt Regency)
* noted as presenting author
Hyeouk Chris Hahm , Boston University, Assistant professor, Boston, MA
In Han Song, PhD , Yonsei University, Assistant Professor, Seoul, South Korea
Background and Purpose: There is a public health and social concern about the rapidly increasing rate of HIV/AIDS infection among Asians and Pacific Islander (API) women in the United States. Despite the importance of HIV testing behavior as a HIV prevention method, little is known about HIV testing behavior among API women and the contextual factors associated with HIV testing among this population. This study is to describe the proportion of HIV testing in the past 12 months among sexually experienced Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women and to investigate to what extent routine gynecological care (RGC) increases HIV testing among API women.

Methods: Data were derived from Wave III, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Analyses were limited to 7,576 sexually experienced women (White, n = 4,482, 68.5%; Black, n = 1,693, 25.6%; Hispanic, n = 923, 13.9%; API, n = 478, 7.2%) aged 18 to 27 years. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the association between RGC and HIV testing after controlling for predisposing, need, and enabling factors.

Findings: On average, 22.8% (n = 1,504) of sexually experienced women reported HIV testing in the past year. API women had the lowest proportion of testing (17.2%), while Black women had the highest (26.2%). Overall, 60.2% of API women reported receiving RGC; however, only 15.5% of API who received RGC reported HIV testing. After controlling for covariates, significantly positive associations were found for White, Black, and Hispanic women between RGC and HIV testing; however, there was no evidence that RGC was associated with HIV testing among API women.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that RGC is not being effectively used to increase HIV testing among API women. In order to reduce and eliminate disparities in HIV testing service utilization among API women, appropriate efforts should be directed to understand the barriers and facilitators of HIV testing among this population.