Determinants of uptake of HIV/aids voluntary counselling and testing services among the health care workers at Meru teaching and referral hospital, Meru county Kenya

Abstract

Healthcare workers have a higher prevalence of HIV infection necessitating the need to prioritize access to healthcare services and other preventative programmes, such as VCT.The purpose of this research at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital was to identify healthcare providers' motivations for using VCT services. This research set out to address the following objectives: VCT uptake among healthcare personnel, the various obstacles to VCT uptake, evaluation of how healthcare providers' sociodemographic factors affect patients' willingness to use VCTs, and determine the impact of understanding HIV/AIDS on this conduct. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, participants filled out a semi-structured questionnaire to provide quantitative data. The research drew from a stratified random sample of 193 people, as a representative of the healthcare industry as a whole. The questionnaire was returned by a very high percentage of people (97.93%), and all of the replies were legitimate. Researcher used SPSS version 21 to examine the data, using multiple linear regression and frequency distribution. At 0.05 level of confidence, we looked for statistically significant values. The correlation between variables was established using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. Researchers found that 97.9% of hospital healthcare personnel participated in VCT services, with the main motivation being a desire to learn their HIV status. Age was the most significant demographic variables affecting the use of VCT services (P-value = 0.042<0.05 from the individual significance, gender (P-value = 0.062>0.05), profession (P-value = 0.158>0.05), education (P-value = 0.122>0.05), and marital status (P-value = 0.113>0.05) do not have an influence on the uptake of VCT services among the health care providers. There was a high level of knowledge regarding HIV prevention and transmission among healthcare workers, with 100% of the participants recording to have participated in HIV education. Knowledge of sexual contact in the transmission and spread of HIV virus was shown to have a statistically significant effect on health personnel' use of VCT services. (P-value = 0.000 < 0.05). The factors highlighted as barriers were found to have less or no impact in hindering the participation in VCT services, but rather impact participation in VCT services among the participants. The moderation effect was assessed using the Andrew F. Hayes process macro model in SPSS to study how the interaction between an independent variables and a moderator variable influences link between independent and dependent factors. It was evident that the availability of protocols for exposed healthcare workers and post-exposure prevention at the hospital did not moderate the demographic factors since there was no significance level on the interaction between the variables, p = 0.074 > 0.05. However, the administration's role in encouraging the staff to HIV testing has increased the significance of demographic factors in influencing the uptake of VCT services. (p=0.039 < 0.049 < 0.05).Concerns about confidentiality and the stigma were major obstacles to the use of VCT services. Institutional guidelines, post-exposure preventive efforts, and government legislation influence the adoption of VCT services.