Sexual Risk, Serostatus and Intimate Partner Violence Among Couples During Pregnancy in Rural South Africa

• Published in: AIDS and behavior Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 508 - 516
• Main Authors: Peltzer, Karl, Jones, Deborah, Weiss, Stephen M., Villar-Loubet, Olga, Shikwane, Elisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.02.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Adolescent; Adult; Consciousness; Couples; Domestic violence; Family Characteristics; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Psychology; Health risks; HIV; HIV Seropositivity - epidemiology; HIV Seropositivity - immunology; HIV Seropositivity - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Immunity, Innate - immunology; Incidence; Infectious Diseases; Interpersonal Relations; Knowledge; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Paper; Partner Abuse; Pregnancy; Pregnant Women - psychology; Public Health; Risk; Risk factors; Risk reduction; Risk taking; Rural Population; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexual Intercourse; Sexual Partners - psychology; Sexually transmitted diseases; South Africa - epidemiology; Spouse Abuse - psychology; Spouse Abuse - statistics & numerical data; STD; Truth Disclosure; South Africa; Sudáfrica; Couples; Pregnant women; HIV risk behavior; Parejas; HIV status; El VIH arriesga el comportamiento; South Africa; Mujeres embarazadas; VIH serostatus
• ISSN: 1090-7165; 1573-3254
• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-012-0185-2

The aim of this study was to describe sexual risk behavior among 239 couples during pregnancy and to examine the relationship of sexual risk behavior with HIV serostatus and intimate partner violence. One-third (31.8 %) of pregnant women and 20.9 % of male partners were HIV positive. HIV risk factors included lack of knowledge of partners’ HIV serostatus, unprotected sexual intercourse and multiple sexual partners. Among men, multivariate logistic regression identified awareness of HIV negative partner status, multiple sexual partners and low levels of partner violence and among women Zulu or Swati ethnicity were associated with unprotected intercourse. HIV positive concordance was associated with protected sex and in multilevel analysis of couples HIV positive status and awareness of the partner’s HIV positive status were associated with protected sex. High levels of HIV risk behaviour was found among couples during pregnancy calling for HIV risk reduction interventions.