HIV-related knowledge among people living with HIV/AIDS in Kelantan, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The authors of this cross-sectional study aims to translate and validate the brief HIV Knowledge Questionnaire (HIV-KQ-18) into Malay language, to assess HIV-related knowledge and its sociodemographic predictors among a sample of people living with HIV/AIDS in Kelantan, Malaysia. A total of 160 HIV patients participated in this study. The Malay version of HIV-KQ-18 showed good internal consistency with Cronbach’s α value of .78. Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.76 (95% confidence interval, 0.61 to 0.85). The HIV-KQ-18 score was normally distributed with a mean of 9.7 (SD = 3.78). The mean percentage of correct responses was 53.7 (SD = 21.0). Higher education level and longer period of living with HIV were significantly associated with better HIV knowledge. In conclusion, the Malay version of HIV-KQ-18 is a valid and reliable instrument to assess HIV-related knowledge, which was found to be lacking in certain aspects among our sample.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• HIV-KQ-18
• knowledge
• Malay version

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ministry of Health Malaysia and the former Director of HRPZ II, Datin Dr. Hjh. Aesah @ Zaharah binti Hj. Awang for the approval to conduct this study at the Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZ II), Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Special thanks to Mr. Mohd Noor Mamat for the contribution in this study. The authors also thank the medical doctors and staff at the Infectious Disease Unit of HRPZ II for their kind assistance.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by a Universiti Sains Malaysia short term grant [304/PPSG/6131491].