Gender Norms and HIV Testing/Treatment Uptake: Evidence from a Large Population-Based Sample in South Africa

• Published in: AIDS and behavior 2019-09, Vol.23 (Suppl 2), p.162-171
• Main Authors: Pulerwitz, J., Gottert, A., Kahn, K., Haberland, N., Julien, A., Selin, A., Twine, R., Peacock, D., Gómez-Olivé, X., Lippman, S. A., Pettifor, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral drugs; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; Data Collection; Decision Making; Female; Gender; Gender Identity; Gender roles; Health Psychology; HIV; HIV Infections - diagnosis; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infectious Diseases; Male; Mass Screening - statistics & numerical data; Measures; Medical tests; Medical treatment; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Men; Middle Aged; Norms; Original Paper; Prescription drugs; Public Health; Rural Population; Serologic Tests; Sex Factors; Social Norms; Socioeconomic Factors; South Africa; Women; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1090-7165; 1573-3254; 1573-3254
• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-019-02603-8

How does the endorsement of different dimensions of gender norms by men and/or women influence their use of HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment? This question was examined using data from a 2014 population-based survey of 1053 women and 1004 men, ages 18–49, in rural South Africa. We used a global measure for views toward gender norms (the GEM Scale), plus four subsets of scale items (all reliabilities ≥ 0.7). In multivariate analyses using the global measure, endorsement of inequitable gender norms was associated with more testing (AOR 2.47, p