Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Related to HIV/AIDS among the Mineworkers in China

The present study was undertaken to investigate knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to HIV/AIDS among mineworkers, and the source of information. A cross-sectional survey of 1659 mineworkers was conducted among 10 mines in Chaoyang city. All 1659 participants were individually interviewed in a private setting by a trained team of medical researchers using a questionnaire, which included questions on general personal information and the knowledge, attitudes, practice questions and the favorable mode of health education. A total of 1590 valid questionnaires were collected. Data entry and statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 13.0. Our results indicated that the majority of mineworkers in China are sexually active youths and adults with limited education and poor HIV/AIDS knowledge. The proportions of correct answers to questions about HIV/AIDS ranged from 11.2% to 70.2%. More than 80% of the mineworkers had a negative attitude toward HIV/AIDS-infected individuals. The source of workers' knowledge toward HIV/AIDS mainly came from TV (62%), newspaper (25.4%), friend (28.9%), radio (21.2%), booklet (10.8%) and others (5.1%). 82.4% of mineworkers wanted to acquire more HIV/AIDS knowledge. Chinese mineworkers in general lack HIV/AIDS knowledge. We suggest prevention programs should be encouraged and these may have the potential role to limit the emergence of HIV/AIDS epidemic.