The Factor Structure of The HIV Antibody Testing Attitude Scale in Four African Countries

Abstract

Objective: To determine the facture structure of the HIV
Antibody Testing Attitude Scale (HTAS) in an African
population.
Method: 760 first-year African university students from
Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe were
surveyed using the HIV Antibody Testing Attitude Scale.
Factor structure was determined by using the principal
component analysis with varimax rotation.
Results: Five components accounting for 51% of the
total variance were identified. The first factor
(eigenvalue: 5.11) accounted for 23.2% of the variance
in the responses and contained items concerned with
perceptions on trust and support about HIV antibody
testing, the second (eigenvalue: 2.19) 10% of the
variance included items that were largely related to
general concerns about HIV antibody testing, the third
(eigenvalue: 1.51) 6.9% of the variance and included
items related to fears about HIV antibody testing, the
fourth (eigenvalue: 1.11) 5% of the variance contained
items about concerns about the confidentiality of HIV
antibody testing, and the fifth factor (eigenvalue: 1.01)
accounted for 4.6% of the variance and reflected items
about friends’ concerns about HIV antibody testing.
Conclusion: This study identified “friends’ concerns”,
“confidentiality” and “general or public concerns”
about HIV antibody testing like among US students
(Boshamer & Bruce, 1999) but two major other factors
emerged as ‘trust and support’ and ‘fears’ about HIV
antibody testing. Issues around support and fears are
relevant facilitators or barriers that are important for
youth among African populations.
Key words: HIV antibody, factor structure, Africa

Keywords

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