Understanding stigma and attitudes towards hepatitis B among university students in Australia of Chinese and Vietnamese background

Hepatitis B is a significant public health concern and a leading cause of liver cancer across the world. In Australia, hepatitis B is largely endemic in migrant communities, particularly amongst the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. Negative attitudes towards hepatitis B can be a major barrier to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BMC public health Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 2801 - 14
Main Authors:	Brener, Loren, Horwitz, Robyn, Cama, Elena, Vu, Hoang Minh Khoi, Jin, Defeng, Wu, Kwok On Eric, Rance, Jake, Broady, Timothy, Treloar, Carla, Mao, Limin, Okeke, Sylvester, Bryant, Joanne
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central Ltd 14-10-2024 BioMed Central BMC
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Analysis Attitudes Australia - epidemiology Barriers Belief Care and treatment China College students Culture Demographic aspects Diagnosis East Asian People Fear & phobias Female Health aspects Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health promotion Health services Hepatitis Hepatitis B Hepatitis B - psychology Humans Infections Infectious diseases Liver cancer Male Medical personnel Migrant communities Misinformation Prevention Psychological aspects Public health Qualitative analysis Qualitative Research Race Racism Risk factors Social aspects Social networks Social Stigma Southeast Asian People Stigma Stigma (Social psychology) Students Students - psychology Students - statistics & numerical data Surveys Surveys and Questionnaires Testing Universities University students Vaccines Vietnam - ethnology Young Adult Australia Vietnam China Belief Migrant communities Misinformation Stigma Barriers Testing
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Summary:	Hepatitis B is a significant public health concern and a leading cause of liver cancer across the world. In Australia, hepatitis B is largely endemic in migrant communities, particularly amongst the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. Negative attitudes towards hepatitis B can be a major barrier to hepatitis B testing and linkage to care. This mixed-methods research explores the attitudes and beliefs, including stigma, about hepatitis B among students of Vietnamese and Chinese background in Australia. Students were chosen as participants as there is little research examining hepatitis B among university students in Australia and they provide a point of entry to communities with high prevalence of hepatitis B, that otherwise may be hard to access. Online surveys were distributed in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English via social media and completed by 112 students of Chinese and 95 students of Vietnamese backgrounds. In-depth interviews were also conducted with 13 Vietnamese and 10 Chinese participants to further explore the survey results. Survey findings suggest that students have varied attitudes towards people living with hepatitis B. Around half of the participants reported they would behave negatively towards other people with hepatitis B and that they would expect to experience stigma or discrimination if they had hepatitis B. While over 70% in both samples reported that people who have hepatitis B should not be isolated by family and friends, 47.6% of the Chinese sample and 28.3% of the Vietnamese sample reported they would avoid close contact with someone with hepatitis B. The qualitative data expands on the quantitative data. Four key themes were identified: (1) Caution not discrimination (2) Hepatitis B as a sign of immoral behaviour (3) Discriminatory behaviour based on perceived effects of hepatitis B and (4) Shifting attitudes. This research provides insights that could inform culturally sensitive health promotion programs to address negative attitudes towards hepatitis B among the broader Chinese and Vietnamese communities living in Australia.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1471-2458 1471-2458
DOI:	10.1186/s12889-024-20226-0