HIV/AIDS knowledge and health-related behaviors: a hearing vs. deaf or a boy vs. girl issue?

Background: Literature regarding deaf youths usually reports insufficient knowledge and understanding of HIV/AIDS, and that they are at greater risk of HIV infection compared to hearing youths.
Methods: This study was conducted in the South of Brazil with 42 deaf and 50 hearing students, 40 of which were boys and 52 were girls. Volunteers answered a self-administered computer-assisted questionnaire with simultaneous video translation to Brazilian Sign Language and a branched decision-tree structure. Data were analyzed using SPSS.
Results: Deaf participants had lower levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and of school education. However, relevant differences in health-related attitudes and behaviors were not found except for the high rate of sexual abuse among the deaf youths (31%, p=<.001). Testing for gender effects revealed that it might be an important variable to consider. Gender differences were found in being sexually active (boys= 62.5%, girls=38.5%, p=.035), discussing sexual issues (girls talk more frequently with their mothers than boys do [Mann-Whitney U=664,00; p=.002]), visiting gynecologists/urologists (boys=17.5% , girls 61.5%, p<.001), and drug use (boys=20%, girls=3.8%, p=.018). No significant differences were found for either hearing vs. deaf or boys vs. girls in terms of sexual debut and sexual partnership.
Conclusions: Findings consistent with the literature regarding the deaf are the lower levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and of school education and the high rates of reported sexual abuse. These results demonstrate a need to improve school based instruction, tailor health education to their communication needs and improve protection against sexual violence. Gender effects indicate that, even within the deaf community, youths are a heterogeneous group affected by several social determinants that must be considered when promoting health-related attitudes and behaviors for preventing HIV/AIDS.

C.A. Bisol1, T.M. Sperb2, T.H. Brewer3, S.K. Kato4, G. Shor-Posner3
1Universidade de Caxias do Sul/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Psychology, Caxias do Sul, Brazil, 2Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Psychology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 3University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, United States, 4Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, Brazil