Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing population of marriage-based migrant women is disproportionally affected by AIDS/STDs in China, and social support plays a critical role. This study aims to describe the social support level received by married migrant women in rural areas in Shandong province in comparison to non-migrant local women, identifies the relevant factors of this social support condition among married migrant women, and observes the correlation between social support level and infection status of AIDS and STDs among this group.MethodsA probability-based sample of 1,076 migrant and 1,195 local women were included in the study. A pre-tested field questionnaire was administered to participants through a direct face-to-face interview. Questionnaire contained questions on socio-demographic information, AIDS and STDs prevalence information and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) which measures objective support, subjective support, and utilization of social support.ResultsCompared to local women, married migrant women had lower levels of social support in most dimensions. Multi-variable analysis revealed that relationship with spouse, family average income, number of children, education, engagement and claimed reasons of moving have various correlations with one or all dimensions of social support scores. Higher social support is also related to awareness of infection status of HIV and STDs among this group.ConclusionOur findings provide further evidence that married migrant women have lower levels of social support which may be related to some social characteristics and their awareness status of AIDS and STDs infection status and that targeted interventions need to be developed for this population.
Highlights
The increasing population of marriage-based migrant women is disproportionally affected by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)/ Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) in China, and social support plays a critical role
We selected from women from areas with high Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence in southwest China (Yunnan province, Guizhou province, and Sichuan province) and bordering countries (Burma and Vietnam), because these places are the main sources of rural migrant women in Shandong [10, 11], and that in this way we can better assess the possible relationship between social support and HIV/STDs infection status
Characteristics of participants There were no significant differences between nonmigrant women and migrant women by location of residency, age, perceived relationship quality with spouse and total number of children during lifetime (Table 1)
Summary
The increasing population of marriage-based migrant women is disproportionally affected by AIDS/ STDs in China, and social support plays a critical role. Due to a high male-tofemale sex ratio and a growing gap in poverty, poor rural men who cannot afford to marry local women in their provinces seek to marry women from even poorer regions These women usually come from poverty-stricken rural ethnic areas in Southwest China (such as Yunnan province, Guizhou province, and Sichuan province) and bordering countries (such as Burma and Vietnam) where HIV prevalence is higher and concentrated among key populations such as people who inject drugs [10, 11]. Epidemiological surveys found that HIV prevalence among these married rural migrant women in Shandong province was 0.65 % in 2008 [11], which is much higher than that among the general population in the province (range 0.01–0.09 %) [12, 13] Among those who were HIV-positive, 20.4 % had an HIV-infected spouse and the rate of mother-to-child transmission was high (13.7 %) [11]. This high rate of mother-to-child suggested that HIV testing was not routinely conducted with pregnant migrant women; and a significant proportion of them may not be aware of their HIV status, which place their spouses and sexual partners at greater risk for infection [9]
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