HIV-related stigma, knowledge about HIV, HIV risk behavior and HIV testing motivation among women in Lampung, Indonesia

Objective: This study aims to identify factors that influence HIV testing motivation among women at the Dr. H. Abdul Moeloek General Hospitalin Lampung, Indonesia. Method: A cross-sectional method was used in this study that employed a consecutive sampling technique involving 120 women with HIV. The participants were outpatients at the Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Dr. H. Abdul Moeloek General Hospital. This study utilized three instruments: the Berger HIV Stigma Scale, HIV Knowledge Questionnaire (HIV-KQ-18) and Safe Sex Behavior Questionnaire (SSBQ). Results: The study examined factors that influence HIV testing motivation among women: HIV-related stigma, knowledge about HIV and HIV risk behavior. The results of the analysis showed that there is a significant relationship among the HIV-related stigma variable (p = 0.019, OR = 2.727), knowledge about HIV variable (p = 0.011, OR = 3.750) and HIV risk behavior variable (p = 0.041, OR = 2.381). The most dominant factor influencing HIV testing motivation is HIV risk behavior (p = 0.016, ά = 0.05 at 95% CI and OR = 3.217). This indicates that Women Living With HIV (WLWH) who engage in risk HIV behavior demonstrate 3.2 times to HIV testing motivation. Conclusion: HIV-related stigma, knowledge about HIV and HIV risk behavior influence HIV testing motivation for women. Recommendation: Our findings have implications for nursing and healthcare practice as well as research, especially in supporting HIV testing for women who are at risk for HIV. Nurses should focus their attention on motivating women with a high risk of HIV to undergo early HIV testing.