Abstract

HIV/AIDS information is an indispensable factor in enhancing the well-being of People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) and remains a major challenge in rural areas. Therefore, utilisation of HIV/AIDS information among PLWHAs in rural communities of Oyo State was investigated in this study. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to sample 183 PLWHAs. Data were collected on respondents? personal characteristics, source of information, utilisation of HIV/AIDS information and constraints faced in utilising HIV/AIDS information. Data were analysed using descriptive (frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Chi square and PPMC) at p = 0.05. Mean age of the respondents was 39?11 years, most of the respondents (73.8%) were female, married (62.3%), Muslims (53.6%) and 32.8% had tertiary education. Respondents? main sources of information were health workers (84.2%) and radio (69.4%). Respondents? level of utilisation of HIV and AIDS was low for 63.4%. Fear of ART side effect (0.519), difficulty in understanding the language of the source (0514) and depression (0.508) were the major constraints respondents faced in utilising HIV/AIDS information. Respondents? age (r =0.196) and constraints faced were positively correlated with their utilisation of HIV/AIDS information. There was also significant relationship between respondents? marital status (c2=11.049), occupation (c2=24.791) and HIV/AIDS information utilisation. State and local action committee on AIDS as well as NGOs should sustain various campaigns currently on-going to address the importance of utilisation of HIV/AIDS information.

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