Understanding Health Literacy among Bisexual Living with HIV: A Preliminary study

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This preliminary study aims to evaluate health literacy among bisexual men living with HIV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 26 adult bisexual male HIV-infected patients in the HIV Clinic from October 2021 to May 2022. We applied the Thai version of the HIV-HLT to investigate health literacy among bisexual men living with HIV. RESULTS: The average age of the participants was 41.34 ± 12.41 years. 61.5% were single and 34.6% had divorced marital status. 50% had finished their bachelor degrees. Approximately half of the participants had been diagnosed with HIV infection for more than 5 years. 57.7% had adequate HIV health literacy and 26.9% had inadequate HIV health literacy, respectively. The laboratory outcome showed that 96.2% had a CD4 count of more than 200 cells/cm3 and 76.9% had a viral load of less than 20 copies/ ml. CD4 and viral load were not associated with the level of health literacy. However, all participants had no previous history of opportunistic infections within the past 6 months. CONCLUSION: Most bisexual men living with HIV have adequate health literacy. The level of health literacy is not associated with CD4 and viral load. However, opportunistic infections within the past 6 months are not reported. Therefore, a Thai version of HIV-HLT may be applied to measure health literacy among bisexual men living with HIV and could be a potential for clinical use.