HIV risk behaviors in Taiwanese immigrants: An Internet investigation

Abstract

The current research was the first attempt to study Taiwanese immigrants' HIV sexual risk behaviors in the United States. The goals of the current research were: (1) to obtain needed knowledge about Taiwanese immigrants' HIV risk behaviors, (2) to investigate the validity of the Health Belief Model with respect to Taiwanese immigrants' HIV risk behaviors, and (3) to promote behavioral science research on the Internet.;One hundred and forty-four participants completed an anonymous survey on the World Wide Web. The Internet Survey was developed using Active Server Page technology. Participants were recruited from several Taiwanese student organizations through e-mail invitations. To motivate participation of this research, a lottery was introduced. Each participant had to create a username and a password. The winner's username was announced on the Internet, and the person who could provide the password would be the winner.;Participants' demographic variables and HIV risk behaviors were measured. A dichotomous variable, risk status (at risk/no risk), was the criterion variable in this study. The Health Belief Model was measured by the AIDS Health Belief Scale (AHBS) and the Self-Efficacy Scale (SE). AHBS and SE were the predictors in this study. The relationships between AHBS, SE and risk status were explored using sequential logistic regressions.;Primary analysis demonstrated that the Health Belief model variables, as a set, reliably predicted participants, risk status after the demographic variables were controlled. However, within this set, only self-efficacy was a significant predictor. Other theoretical components from the model failed to predict risk status. Further statistical analysis showed that the predictive power of the Health Belief Model depended on the level of acculturation. Implications of the results and limitations of the study are discussed.