ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1618440
Assessing the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Psychological Health of People Who Use Drugs Towards Hepatitis C: A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- Xi'an Central Hospital, Xi'an, China
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Introduction: Understanding the knowledge, risk behaviors, and psychological health of people who use drugs (PWUDs) is critical for Hepatitis C (HCV) elimination. This study aimed to assess these factors among PWUDs in a Drug Rehabilitation Center by comparing HCV-positive and HCV-negative individuals. Method: A total of 127 participants over 18 years (58 HCV-positive and 69 HCV-negative) were selected from the Lantian Drug Rehabilitation Center from April to June 2023. Data were collected through a descriptive, cross-sectional questionnaire (HCV awareness, HCV knowledge, SCL-90 tests) and laboratory blood tests, with which inferential and descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Results: Of the 127 participants, 58 (45.7%) were HCV-positive. A significant portion of both HCV-positive (31.0%) and HCV-negative (66.7%) individuals were unaware of their status prior to testing (P=0.04). Overall HCV knowledge was high and similar between the two groups, though specific gaps persisted, with fewer than 40% recognizing the transmission risk from unregulated cosmetic procedures. Sharing syringes was significantly more prevalent in the HCV-positive group (P=0.001). Compared to Chinese national norms, HCV-positive PWUDs exhibited significantly higher psychological distress across all ten SCL-90 dimensions (all P<0.001), with the most pronounced elevations in somatization and psychoticism. Conclusion: Educational programs in rehabilitation centers appear effective in raising general HCV awareness, significant gaps in knowledge about community-based transmission routes persist. The profound psychological distress observed among HCV-positive PWUDs, coupled with the high rate of status unawareness, underscores the urgent need for integrated care models that address both virological treatment and mental health support.
Keywords: Chronic hepatitis C1, HCV knowledge2, psychological distress3, HCV awareness4, Risk behavior5
Received: 26 Apr 2025; Accepted: 15 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhang, Cao, Zhu and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianjun Fu, fjianj@163.com
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