Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding HIV/AIDS amongst the Adolescents -A Hospital Based Study (original) (raw)
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A Study of Knowledge Attitude and Practice Regarding HIV/AIDS among Adolescents
Indian Journal of Youth and Adolescent Health
Introduction: In this world of 7.2 billion people, 1.2 billion live in India and out of these, 243 million, i.e., 20.9% of the population are adolescents, between 10 and 19 years, as per 2011. This makes India the world's largest adolescent-living country. As per WHO, HIV is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. In Dist. Bathinda, 99,595 people were tested out of which 1339, i.e., 1.34% were found to be positive till February 2014. Hence school education has been described as a 'social vaccine,' and it can serve as a powerful preventive tool. In India, there is a wide gap between the inputs in the HIV/AIDS curriculum for schools and the actual education that is imparted. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescents (14 to 19 years) in three randomly chosen coeducational schools in Bathinda. Adolescents from 14 to 19 years in randomly chosen schools were included in the study. A pre-designed, pre-structured, pre-tested questionnaire was introduced to the participants by the interviewer in English and Hindi. Privacy of the schools and the participants was maintained by not mentioning their names anywhere in the study. Data was collected regarding knowledge, attitude and prevalence regarding HIV/AIDS. Results: A total of 401 adolescents were enrolled in our study out of which 282 were males and 119 females. Almost all the adolescents, i.e., 99.8% had heard about the term HIV/AIDS. 74.8% had TV and 61.6% internet as their source of information. A large number, i.e., 85.3% adolescents (87.6% male adolescents and 79.8% female adolescents) knew that sexual contact could be the mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS. A large number, i.e., 71.82% (80.14% males and 52.1% females) knew that HIV/AIDS could be prevented by using condoms. 52 adolescents had history of previous sexual exposure out of whom 48 used condoms during the last sexual contact. The association was significant between the knowledge and practice regarding the use of condom (highly significant: p<0.01). Conclusion: Thus this study reveals that still much has to be done towards imparting information about HIV/AIDS among adolescents, which could be done through many ways, like involving them in various activities at health centers as and when any IEC activities are carried out. Moreover schools and parents should also involve themselves and impart them more information regarding the disease. Mothers play an important role in providing more information to girl adolescents. Thus a collective effort is needed so as to have a bright future of these adolescents.
Journal of Evidence Based Medicine and Healthcare, 2015
BACKGROUND: Teenagers form a significant portion of those infected with HIV and the number of young women getting infected with HIV/AIDS is growing rapidly. OBJECTIVES: This study was done to estimate the knowledge attitudes and risk perceptions about HIV/AIDS, in teenage high school students of Guntur. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out. For data analysis, simple percentage was applied. For finding gender differences, "Chi square test for independence" was used. RESULTS: More than half (61.1%) were unaware that treatment is available for HIV. More than one third (41.6%), of students preferred to discontinue friendship if their friend contracts HIV. Two thirds, (66.66%) of the students were unaware that HIV can be transmitted by tattooing /skin piercing. About one third (31%) were unaware that using disposable syringes can help prevent HIV transmission. Girls (77.5%) were less aware that HIV can be transmitted through sexual intercourse than boys (93.2%), (p value =0.019). More girls (28.5%) were lacking in the awareness that condoms can help in prevention of HIV transmission than boys (5.1%) (p value =0.0008).More girls (24.5%) were unaware that safe blood transfusion practices can help in prevention of HIV than boys (5.1%), (p value =0.0114). Also more girls (42.8%) were unaware that using disposable syringes can help in prevention of HIV transmission than boys (20.3%), (p value =0.0037). CONCLUSION: There were significant gaps in knowledge about HIV among teenage high school students and comparatively girls were less aware than boys. HIV/AIDS knowledge should be improved by school education programmes.
International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics, 2016
Adolescent age group is often called as the 'generation of hope'. It plays a vital role for the present as well as future health status of a nation. This is because the behaviours, attitudes and beliefs of these youth are shaping the societies of the future and their health is an important determinant of the nation's productivity. Young adulthood is an age at which decisions are taken on whims and unless provided with appropriate knowledge, their chances of engaging in risky sexual behaviour become high. With the rapid economic development, socio cultural changes, and globalization, adolescents and youths are becoming more and more sexually active leading to sexuality associated problems such as unplanned adolescent pregnancy, out of wedlock childbearing, sexually transmitted disease. The potential ABSTRACT Background: Adolescent sexuality leads to adolescent pregnancy, unsafe abortion, Reproductive Tract Infections, Sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Over 35% of all reported HIV/AIDS infections in India occur amongst young people 15-24 years age. To study knowledge, attitude and practice regarding this sensitive problem among adolescents, which can help young people, overcome from sexual related problems. Methods: Systematic random sampling was used to select participants from the schools. 375 students were selected for the study. A predesigned, pre-tested, self-administered multiple response questionnaires was provided to the students. Results: Regarding knowledge about STDs, 73.9% had heard about HIV and 11.5% about syphilis Genital discharge as a symptom of STD was known to 171 (45.6%) students, genital ulcer was known to 67 (17.9%) students while dysuria was known to 23.2% of students. Nearly 50% of students had knowledge about routes of transmission of HIV. However majority of student had misconceptions regarding transmission of HIV. Males had better knowledge as compared to females regarding vertical and transfusion related transmission.15% accepted that they have used condom in which the proportion of males was higher. The attitude of students about having multiple sexual partners was very casual. Significant proportions (39%) of students also feel that sexual intercourse make them popular. Conclusions: There was an evident gap between knowledge and practices especially with respect to the sexual practices of youth which needs to be bridged.
Journal of Nepal Health Research Council, 2011
Adolescence is a period of great physical, mental and emotional turmoil within teenagers. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge of, attitude to and behaviour towards STI and AIDS among adolescence. Four randomly selected higher secondary school from students of class XI and XII were included after taking their verbal consent. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was given to all the participants of the school. In order to get correct answers, specific questions were explained to the students with the help of their class teachers. The results were encouraging with the majority (94.16%) have heard about STIs and HIV/AIDS. Teachers (100%), Newspaper/magazine (90%) and Television (78.33%) were the main informational source about disease. Respondents correctly identified that unsafe sexual contact (86.66%) as major mode of transmission of AIDS and more than 90% of students regarded the use of condoms as the true preventive method for the disease. Among those respo...
HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Attitude of Adolescents to Prevent AIDS in Isfahan City
2013
This study assessed the knowledge, attitude of preventive of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Isfahan city. Method: 250 adolescents were selected by simple randomly sampling from four public high schools (males=130 and females=120). Descriptive statistic was used for the analyzing. Result: Majority, 84.0% of the adolescents were aware of the existence of HIV/AIDS; commonest source of information being electronic media though their knowledge of routes of transmission and modes of prevention of the disease was erroneous and inadequate due to several misconceptions. There was generally an intolerant attitude towards HIV infected people and many adolescents will like to know their status if the test was free. There was poor practice of preventive measures among the adolescents Conclusion: for this purpose we had suggestion provision of free HIV counseling and screening test centers in or high school and college campuses, inclusion of sex education in high school curriculum, and organization of health education/HIV preventive programmes for adolescents.
2011
Background HIV /Aids is a global epidemic which has caused tremendous human suffering around the world. Young people are especially vulnerable to HIV, due to the period of adolescence being one of experimentation and risk-taking. With South Africa having one of the most severe HIV/Aids epidemics in the world, it is crucial that the family physician is familiar with the local drivers of the epidemic and health needs of their practice population, and be able to initiate or support appropriate community based interventions designed to either prevent the spread of HIV, offer care or support treatment. Objectives This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and reported sexual behaviour amongst adolescents in a general practice population in Port Elizabeth. A better understanding of the drivers of the epidemic in this setting should inform the development of a general practice based HIV/Aids intervention. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study of grade 11 adolescents at 2 schools in an urban general practice catchment area in Port Elizabeth was conducted. Both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus group interviews [FGI]) research techniques were utilised in order to triangulate the results. One hundred and thirty nine adolescents (52 males and 85 females) completed a confidential, self-administered questionnaire. Two focus group interviews were held with 22 volunteers from the original sample that had completed the questionnaire. Results Knowledge levels about HIV/Aids were found to be moderately high, although gaps in their knowledge and a few misconceptions were noted. Sexual knowledge was low, as only 17% thought that oral sex was really sex, and 33% that anal sex was really sex. The majority of the adolescents exhibited a mostly positive attitude towards people who were living with HIV/Aids. Some, however, were uncertain, and displayed contradictory attitudes. Almost half (49%) of the participants indicated that they were sexually active. Fourty percent of the sample had been sexually active in the last year. The median age of first sexual debut was 16. Of those who were sexually active 32% had 1 partner, 10% had 2 partners and 7% had 3 partners. The use of condoms received much negative attitude from participants in the FGI's, with many reasons being given for not using condoms. Of those who were sexually active, 69.7% reported that they always used condoms, 35.7% that they used condoms sometimes, while 12.5% reported that they never used condoms during sex in the last year. It was found that alcohol and drug use and 'sugar-daddyism' were high risk activities which contributed to risky sexual behaviour. A number of key factors which influenced adolescents' sexual decision-making emerged as physical appearance, reputation, whether or not someone uses drugs, peer pressure when making decisions about whether or not to have sex with a prospective partner. The preferred sources for HIV/Aids information by the participants were health care workers (45%), trained peer educators (41%) and parents (21%).It was also evident from the study that peers (81%) were the group that adolescents confided in the most about sex., followed by parents/guardians (53%). Participants in the FGI's were unanimous in recommending that HIV/Aids education should be presented in 'fun' ways in order to bring the message across. Conclusion The study has provided some insight into the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of adolescents in an urban general practice area. It highlighted the factors which may contribute to the spread of HIV/Aids among adolescents. Although the level of knowledge regarding HIV/Aids was moderate, this did not translate into safer behaviour and practices, or improved attitudes towards people affected by HIV/Aids. Gaps in their knowledge need to be filled and misconceptions corrected. The results of this study could be Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za
International Journal of Psychological Studies, 2014
This study examined the adolescents' knowledge and attitude towards regular healthcare as a way of improving HIV/STDs testing and treatment among secondary school students in Oyo State, Nigeria. This study employed the descriptive research design type. Two hundred and twenty participants selected through multi-stage stratified random sampling technique were used for the study. One main instrument was used in collecting data. Data was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and T-test. Results showed a significant relationship between students' knowledge and attitude to regular healthcare on the testing and treatment of HIV/STDs. Also, a significant difference in the knowledge while no significant difference was found in the attitude of regular healthcare as a factor in the testing and treatment of HIV/STDs among private and public secondary schools' students. A gender difference in attitude toward regular healthcare was observed but not in knowledge. Also, no significant differences were found in the knowledge and attitude towards HIV/STDs Testing and Treatment of single parenting and intact home (both parents) respondents. On the basis of the findings, it was established that while the majority of secondary students had heard about HIV/STDs, their knowledge was inadequate. Thus, schools have a role to play in facilitating the access of young people to necessary reproductive health services and to link education and services so that students may bridge knowledge and attitudes with action.
Awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS in school going children of Surat, Gujarat
International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health
Background: Adolescents are susceptible to unhealthy practices due to a lack of knowledge and curiosity to try new things. Adolescent age also forms the base for behaviors throughout their lives. This study therefore aimed to understand adolescents’ present knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Methods: A questionnaire was created with knowledge and attitude-based questions regarding HIV/AIDS. The questionnaire was embedded in google Forms and was sent via WhatsApp, to collect responses from school going children of age 14 to 18. Ethical permissions and consents were taken and the data collection went on for a week. Results: 2000 children took part in the study, out of that 732 were males and 1268 were females. The mean score of all the participants was calculated to be 68.52% with a standard deviation of 17.18. There was no statistical significance of gender and the mean score of the participants, whereas statistical significance was found for age-wise distribution of mean score...
Health, 2016
HIV/AIDS has remained a challenge in Uganda among adolescent despite the ABC strategy used globally to prevent HIV infection. The study assessed the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of secondary school teenagers towards HIV transmission and prevention in rural and urban schools of central Uganda. A cross sectional study using self-administered questionnaires and structured interviews was used to collect data from adolescents in secondary schools in Kampala and Buikwe districts. Eight schools were randomly selected with 4 schools in each district. A total of 245 students from schools were recruited in the study with 120 and 125 students from urban Kampala and rural Buikwe district schools respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11. The results were expressed as percentages in a 2 × 2 tables. The mean age of the participants was 15.9 ± 2.5 years. Results showed that 95.1% participants had knowledge on HIV/AIDS in both urban and rural schools and 27.4% knew all the modes of HIV transmission. About 83.7% knew the ABC strategy for HIV prevention and 37.6% would talk about HIV/AIDS mainly with friends. For HIV cure, 62.0% of study participants reported non-cure and 24.9% were not sure. The remaining 13.1% of the study participants in both urban and rural schools reported that HIV can be cured. And the modes of curing HIV that were mentioned by participants included spiritual healing, transmitting it to others through sexual intercourse and that antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs can cure it as well as that it can be cured abroad. About 65.7% of participants reported recognition of one with HIV/ AIDS and by having red lips, being sickly; weight loss, skin rash and being very rich were mentioned. About 39.2% of the study participants mentioned that they cannot get infected with HIV and can't contract HIV at all and 18.4% believed that chances of getting HIV infection were high. On perception and attitude on condoms and their use, participants reported that it is a sign of mistrust, reduces sexual pleasures and they are embarrassing to buy. Majority of the participants in both urban and rural schools had some knowledge on HIV/AIDS and the ABC strategy for HIV prevention. However, there was a knowledge gap on the various modes of HIV
Knowledge of HIV Prevention Methods among Adolescents
Adolescents continue disproportionately face the impact of HIV and AIDs infections across the world generally and in Sub Saharan Africa in particular. One of these issues is the increasing rates of HIV prevalence and incidence rates over the years. This results from low uptake of HIV prevention services. Adolescents in high density urban areas are prone to several factors that hinder their access to HIV prevention services. Thus, the study sought to unearth factors that determine the accessibility of HIV prevention services among adolescents in Dzivarasekwa District. Qualitative and qualitative research methods were triangulated. A total of 500 questionnaires were administered to adolescents aged 15-19 years to collect quantitative data. The study also conducted 10 Focus group discussions and 20 Key informant interviews to solicit qualitative data. The findings showed that, a significant number of adolescents were engaging in sexual activities. Adolescents were aware of most of HIV prevention methods: however their knowledge was not being translated into utilization of these methods. This was influenced by a lot of factors at individual, interpersonal, organization, community and national levels. Low uptake of prevention services was mainly attributed to high cost, low awareness, lack of proper knowledge about the benefits of the services. Recommendations were also offered to service on how HIV prevention services uptake can be improved amongst adolescents.