Behavioral Intention towards Dietary Diversity among Adult People Living with HIV in Public Hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia Using Theory of Planned Behavior—An Explanatory Study

Aderajew Nigusse Teklehaimanot, Tefera Belachew, Esayas Kebede Gudina, Masrie Getnet, Demuma Amdisa and Lelisa Sena Dadi
Additional contact information
Aderajew Nigusse Teklehaimanot: Department of Population and Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia
Tefera Belachew: Department of Population and Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia
Esayas Kebede Gudina: Department of Internal Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia
Masrie Getnet: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia
Demuma Amdisa: Department of Health Behaviors and Society, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia
Lelisa Sena Dadi: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma 378, Ethiopia

Challenges, 2021, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Dietary diversity is a crucial element of inclusive care for people living with HIV (PLWHIV). Particularly in resource-limited countries where undernutrition and food insecurity prevail, low intention and poor attitude towards diversified diets are the common challenges. The aim of this study was to assess the intention towards dietary diversity behavior among adult PLWHIV in Jimma Zone public hospitals, Southwest Ethiopia. A hospital-based survey study was carried out in five public institutions among 403 sampled adult PLWHIV. Data were entered into Epi-Data (The EpiData Association, Odense, Denmark) and exported to SPSS version 20 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) for analysis. Relationships among variables were assessed using correlation coefficients. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted to assess predictors of behavioral intention towards dietary diversity at p -value ≤ 0.05. The quantitative data were supplemented by qualitative data, which were collected through key informant interviews and analyzed thematically. The significant predictors of intention to use dietary diversity were attitude (β = 0.196, p < 0.01) and subjective norm (β = 0.390, p < 0.01) of the adult PLWHIV. The constructs of theory of planned behavior (TPB) independently explained the variance in intention towards dietary diversity by 25.7%. All the intermediate, proximal and distal components of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) explained the final model finding 32.2% of variance in the intention to use dietary diversity. The qualitative findings indicated that delivery of HIV care requires a sense of livelihood development, economical improvement and creating a sense of ownership for sustainable HIV care by creating behavioral change at the individual level. Conclusion: Dietary inadequacy was strongly correlated with being in the sociodemographic groups that are at heightened risk of adverse clinical outcomes. It is worthwhile to understand behavioral intention as a potential determinant of malnutrition and the Poor ART outcomes rather than symptomatic treatment of malnutrition with food by prescription.

Keywords: behavior; dietary diversity; HIV; intention; Jimma Zone; PLWHIV (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/12/2/18/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/12/2/18/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jchals:v:12:y:2021:i:2:p:18-:d:589029

Access Statistics for this article

Challenges is currently edited by Ms. Karen Sun

More articles in Challenges from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().