title: Male labour migration, spousal communication, and STI treatment in Armenia.
abstract: This study aims to add to the scant research on the association between labour migration and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It builds upon earlier findings suggesting that left-behind migrants' wives tend to have higher risks of contracting STIs than women married to non-migrants. Using data from a 2007 survey in rural Armenia, a post-Soviet patriarchal setting with high levels of seasonal male migration and high rates of STIs, we examine how migration influences spousal communication about STIs, and how this communication, in turn, affects women's use of medical care for STI-like symptoms. The results of random-intercept logistic regression models show that migrants' wives were significantly more likely to talk about STI-related risks with their husbands than were non-migrants' wives. However, among women reporting STI-like symptoms in 12 months before the survey, migrants' wives were less likely to have talked to their husbands about these symptoms. We also find that women married to migrants were less likely to seek professional care for their STI-like symptoms than those married to non-migrants, but this association was moderated by women's communication about these symptoms with their spouses.
authors.affiliation: a Australian Population and Migration Research Centre, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide , Adelaide , Australia.
authors.forename: Arusyak
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevoyan
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Agadjanian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001136:Armenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012621:Seasons; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014342:Truth Disclosure
keywords: Armenia; communication; help-seeking behaviour; migrants; sexually transmitted infections