HIV Testing and Care in Canadian Aboriginal Youth: A community based mixed methods study

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 1 Characteristics of survey participants

Variable^a,b n = 413	%
Age (Mean ± SD years) range 15–30 years	21.5 ± 4.4
Gender
Male	47.0
Female	52.8
Transgender	0.2
Aboriginal background
First Nations Status	56.2
First Nations Non Status	6.8
Métis	20.8
Inuit	10.7
Inuvaluit	2.2
Other	1.7
Languages spoken by youth
English	97.8
Aboriginal Language	13.1
French	22.0
Sexual Identification
Heterosexual or straight	84.7
Gay/lesbian/two-spirit/bisexual	13.1
Other	1.5
Marital status
Single	69.2
Common-law relationship	20.3
Married	3.6
Separated/divorced/widowed	3.4
Education^c
Grade 8 or less	10.7
Some high school	49.9
Completed high school	16.2
College/university	7.8
Some post secondary	14.6
Religion and spirituality
Followed a religion	41.4
Followed traditional Aboriginal practices	41.0
Place of residence
Living in urban centre, population > 10,000	64.4
Own home/apartment	35.8
Parents' home	31.0
Friend's home	9.7
Rooming house	3.1
Shelter or safe house	4.4
Hotel	3.4
Homeless	4.6
Other living arrangement	8.2
Income Sources^c
Had job	37.3
Social support/welfare	29.3
Several sources of income	16.4
No income	6.5
HIV testing
Tested for HIV	50.8
Tested positive (among those tested)	12.4

^a Certain variables do not add up to 100% as only some sub-variables are shown. Many variables have missing data as participants could choose not to answer the survey questions or answer more than once per question.
^b Four hundred and thirteen (413) Aboriginal youth from Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Labrador and Inuvik completed the survey.
^c As many of these youth were in the process of obtaining an education, it is expected that the reported level of education and personal (not household) income are variable indicators of life circumstances.

ISSN: 1471-2334