Purpose In the era of antiretroviral treatment (ART), treatment of HIV has become more manageable, and most patients with HIV benefit from long-term therapy in Japan. The aim of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of patients with HIV/AIDS receiving mid- and long-term care in Japan. Methods A qualitative study was performed using semi-structured interviews at an outpatient clinic of a university hospital in the Greater Tokyo area. A total of 31 Japanese patients with HIV who had been receiving treatment for at least a year were interviewed in Japanese. Data from these interviews were analyzed by ‘content analysis’ (Krippendorff, 1980). Results The data were organized into the following seven themes: “feelings toward diagnosis of HIV infection”; “perceptions and behavior after diagnosis of HIV”; “attitudes toward HIV therapy”; “fear and hope for the future”; “feelings toward professional support”; “life changes after HIV therapy”; and “struggles in relationships with others”. Conclusions Some participants accepted themselves as HIV-positive, some did not when they were diagnosis. This difference of reaction had effect on attitudes toward HIV therapy. But all participants continued mid- and long-treatments owing to feeling well and receiving support from professionals. Additionally, it found that patients were felt stigma of HIV-positive similarly to another Asian countries. Therefore, we should provide the entire Japanese society with knowledge about HIV/AIDS and be early and constant intervention by professional teams after being infected.

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Objectives: This study aimed to develop a paper version of the Tuberculosis Implicit Association Test (IAT) and verify its reliability and validity.Methods: To evaluate explicit awareness of infections, 96 nursing and 27 psychology students were asked to complete a survey that included a paper version of the Tuberculosis IAT and other existing psychometric scales. Test -retest reliability and discriminant, known-groups, and concurrent validities of the Tuberculosis IAT were then assessed.Results: 41 nursing students and 20 psychology students completed the questionnaire (valid response rate: 42.7% and 74.1%, respectively). The test-retest reliability was confirmed by the intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.679. Regarding discriminant validity, as hypothesized, the IAT scores did not correlate with the social desirability scale score (r = 0.023, p = 0.861). Contrary to our hypothesis concerning known-groups validity, there was no significant difference in IAT scores between nursing and psychology students (t = 0.929, p = 0.357) or among nursing students seeking credit for the course on infectious disease nursing (t = -0.220, p = 0.827). In contrast, as hypothesized, there was no significant correlation between nursing students' knowledge of tuberculosis and the IAT scores (r = 0.032, p = 0.845). Additionally, regarding concurrent validity, no significant correlation was found between the perceived vulnerability to disease scale and IAT scores (r = 0.190, p = 0.142), contrary to the hypothesis.Conclusions: Although the paper version of the Tuberculosis IAT was considered to have a sufficient reliability and validity, further investigation into its known-groups validity was deemed necessary.

Introduction at least 90% of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were expected to know their HIV status by 2020. However, only 84% are aware of their status. This study determined the frequency of HIV testing services visits (HTS) and its related factors to HTS visits among adults in Homa Bay County, Kenya. Methods this was a cross-sectional study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was conducted for quantitative data by gender. Qualitative data were thematically categorised into factors of HTS visits by gender. Results a total of 645 adults participated in quantitative survey and 17 in qualitative survey. There were no gender differences in the frequency of HTS visits (males=56.3%; females= 58.7%, P=0.785). The frequency of visits was however significantly different between the rural-based (Rachuonyo North=87.5%; Ndhiwa=58.7%) and urban-based (Homa Bay Town=36.8%) facilities at P<0.001. In males, HTS visits were positively associated with ´being in Protestant church´, ´partner´s attitude´, and ´being accompanied by a friend to HTS´. ´Distance to HTS´ was negatively associated with HTS visits in males. For females, 'sexual intercourse in the past 2-5 months´ was positively associated with HTS visits. ´Being in a polygamous marriage´, ´not married´, ´community HIV testing´, and ´affordability of transport cost to HTS centre´ were negatively associated with HTS visits. Conclusion there were no gender differences in the frequency of HTS visits. Social position for males and position in the family for females are suggested as the factors influencing HTS visits in Homa Bay County.