AbstractIntroduction: In recent years the legal status of homosexuality has undergone notable changes. Despite these changes public view on homosexuality remains acutely divided by country, religion, cultural and economic background. And the aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and attitude toward homosexuality in people of Telangana state.
Materials and Methods: The study was designed as an online survey using chain-referral sampling containing the questions from Sex Education, Knowledge about Homosexuality Questionnaire (SEKHQ), Attitudes towards Homosexuals Questionnaire (AHQ) and pertinent Socio-demographic data and the data was collected for a duration of 6 months.
Results: 225 people over the age of 15 years took part in the study. The mean age of the study participants was 26.77. The mean score on SEKHQ was 11.56±5.37 with a median score of 12. The mean score on the AHQ was 47.93±14.94. On Pearson’s correlation test, age of the participants is negatively correlated with SEKHQ score (r=-0.16; P< 0.05 at 95% confidence interval) and positively correlated with AHQ score (r=0.188; P< 0.05 at 95% confidence interval). While SEKHQ score is negatively correlated with AHQ score (r=-0.50; P< 0.05 at 95% confidence interval).
Conclusion: The participants had better knowledge and positive attitude towards homosexuality, especially being single, belonging to urban setting and from medical background. The study also showed that higher scores on SEKHQ does not indicate more positive attitude towards homosexuals. There is need for more large-scale studies at community level to assess, educate and improve the attitudes of people towards homosexuality.
