A study to assess the knowledge and attitude of the Pre-university students on HIV/AIDS in selected colleges of Mangalore

 

Mrs. Shambhavi¹, Mrs. Shanthi S.²

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Surgical  Nursing, Laxmi Memorial College of Nursing, Mangalore, Karnataka. India

²Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Nursing, Laxmi Memorial College of Nursing , Mangalore, Karnataka. India

 

ABSTRACT:

Background: The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was epidemic in its third decade and has become a pandemic disease that threatens the world population. It affects all body systems as well as the mental health and social relationships of carriers and asymptomatic patients.

Aim: To determine the knowledge and attitude of Pre-university students on HIV/AIDS.

Methods: A descriptive survey design was used for the study. The study was conducted in the selected pre-university colleges in Mangalore. Population for this study constituted pre-university college students of Mangalore. The sample comprised of 200 students from selected pre-university colleges. Non-Probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the college students. Instruments used were demographic proforma, structured knowledge questionnaire and rating scale.

Results: Majority (69%) of pre-university students had adequate knowledge on HIV/AIDS and 31% had inadequate knowledge on HIV/AIDS. Majority (68.5%) of pre-university students had favorable attitude on HIV/AIDS and (31.5%) had unfavorable attitude on HIV/AIDS.

Conclusion: Information about behavior, attitude and knowledge through regular surveys is essential to better understand the dynamics of HIV epidemic.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

AIDS, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome is recognized as an emerging disease only in the early 1980s, AIDS has rapidly established itself throughout the world, and is likely to endure and persist well into the 21st century. AIDS has evolved from a mysterious illness to a global pandemic which has infected tens of millions in less than 20 years.

According to the 2007 UNAIDS global AIDS report an estimated 33.2 million (30.6-36.1 million) people worldwide are living with HIV in 2007. Of these 30.8 million people were adult (28.2-33.6 million) 2.5 million (2.2- 2.6 million) were children. Under the age of 15 years of the adults 15.4 million (13.9-16.6 million) were women. An estimated 2.5 million (1.8-4.1 million) became newly infected with HIV in 2007 of which 2.1 million (1.4-3.6 million) were adults and 42000 (35000-54000) were children under 15yrs.¹ At the end of 2012, 35.3 million people were living with HIV.² Globally, an estimated 36 million people were currently living with HIV, and some 20 million people have already died, with the worst of the epidemic centered on Sub-Saharan Africa. But just as the spread of HIV has been greater than predicted, so too has been its impact on social capital, population structure and economic growth.³

 

HIV is a long term medical condition, however, lack of knowledge and assumptions about how it is transmitted fuel negative connotations which, in turn, discourage people from being tested for the virus. Mr. R.W Jeffery and Mr. G.L Barpe conducted study on knowledge and attitude towards AIDS & risk behavior for HIV infection in Minneapolis; among334 adults between 18-55yrs. Researcher concluded that around more than forty percentage people don’t know the risk factors of AIDS. Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD’s), including HIV mainly affects sexually active young people. Young adults aged 15-29yrs, account for thirty-two percent of AIDS cases reported in India and the number of young women living with HIV/AIDS is twice that the young men. Causes of the increased rates of STIs/HIV in young people are complex, however, the main reasons including biological factors, risk sexual behavior patterns, transmission dynamics and treatment- seeking behavior. There is growing evidence of increased premarital sexual activities among young people. While generalization is difficult, studies indicate that between twenty and thirty percent of young men and up to ten percent of young women have premarital sexual experiences. Women, have a higher incidence of STIs than men because of their greater biological susceptibility. The present depth of STI education in India is a major concern, particularly in schools.⁴

 

Information about behavior, attitude and knowledge through regular surveys is essential to better understand the dynamics of HIV epidemic. This information is also important in assessing changes over time as a result of prevention efforts. Even though several actions were taken to improve the attitude and knowledge of AIDS, still poor attitude and low knowledge is persisting. It’s a critical condition and under this circumstance it is very much necessary to assess the knowledge and attitude of the pre-university students on HIV/AIDS in selected colleges.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Design:

A descriptive survey design was used for the study.

 

Setting:

This study was conducted in the selected pre-university colleges in Mangalore

 

Population:

Population for this study constituted pre-university college students of Mangalore.

Sample:

The samples for the present study comprised of 200 students from selected pre-university colleges of Mangalore

 

Sampling technique:

Non-Probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the college students

 

Instruments:

used were demographic proforma, structured knowledge questionnaire and rating scale

 

Description of the instrument:

Tool-1; Part 1: Demographic profile which consisted of age, sex, place of residence, source of previous knowledge on HIV/AIDS,

Part 2:  Structured knowledge questionnaire on HIV/AIDS.

Section A: This section consists of 10 multiple choice questions. Each questionnaire carrying more than one correct answer and each correct answer carry one mark.

Section B: This section consists of 10 true or false questions on HIV/AIDS.  Each correct answer carrying one mark.

Tool-2:  Attitude scale to assess attitude of Pre-University students on HIV/AIDS.  It is a three point rating scale.  There were 10 statements given regarding HIV/AIDS to assess the attitude.  Those were to be answered as three choices; Agree, disagree and undecided.  Best suitable choice was to be selected.  There were six positive and four negative statements.

 

Method of data collection:

Prior to the data collection permission was obtained from the authority concerned. Self introduction was given and subjects were selected according to the selection criteria of the study. Written consent was taken from each of the participant after explaining the purpose of data collection. The structured knowledge questionnaires and the attitude scale were administered.

 

RESULTS:

Section A: Description of pre-university college students according to demographic characteristics.

The data presented in Table 1 showed that majorities (98%) of the pre-university students were in the age group of 17-19 years and maximum (60.5%) pre-university students were males. Majorities (74%) of pre-university students were from urban area and maximum (57%) of pre-university students had a previous knowledge on HIV/AIDS from mass media (news paper and T V).

 

 

 

TABLE 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of pre-university college students according to their demographic characteristics          N=200

 

Section B: Knowledge of pre-university students on HIV/AIDS

TABLE 2: Range, Mean, Median, Standard deviation of knowledge score of pre-university students on HIV/AIDS    N=200

Range	Mean	Median	Standard deviation
3-22	15.58	16	3.02

Maximum score=24

 

The data in the table 2 shows that knowledge score of pre-university students on HIV/AIDS was ranging from 3-22, with mean 15.58, median 16 and standard deviation 3.02.

 

TABLE 3: Frequency and percentage distribution of pre-university students according to their level of knowledge    N=200

Sl. No	Level of knowledge	Frequency(f)	Percentage (%)
1. 2.	Inadequate(0-14) Adequate(15-24)	62 138	31 69

 

Data presented in the table 3 shows that majority (69%) of pre-university students had adequate knowledge score (15-24) on HIV/AIDS, and 31% had inadequate knowledge (0-14) on HIV/AIDS.

 

Section C: Attitude of pre university students on HIV/AIDS.

TABLE 4: Range, Mean, Median, and Standard deviation of attitude score of pre-university students                                N=200

Range	Mean	Median	Standard deviation
15-29	22.28	22	3.27

Minimum score=10    Maximum score=30

 

The data in the table 4 shows that, attitude score of pre-university students on HIV/AIDS ranging from 15-29, with mean 22.28, median 22 and standard deviation 3.27.

 

TABLE 5: Frequency and percentage distribution of pre university students according to level of attitude                N=200

Sl. No	Attitude	Frequency(f)	Percentage (%)
1 2	Unfavorable(10-20) Favorable(21-30)	63 137	31.5 68.5

 

Data presented in table 5 shows that majority (68.5%) of pre-university students had favorable attitude (attitude score 21-30) on HIV/AIDS and (31.5%) had unfavorable attitude (attitude score 10-20) on HIV/AIDS.

 

TABLE 6: Chi square test showing association of  level of knowledge with demographic variables.                                                               N=200

Sl No	Variables	<M	>M	df	χ2 value	P Value	Inference
1)       2)     3)     4)	AGE a)       17-19 b)       20-22 c)       >22 GENDER a)       Male b)       Female PLACE OF RESIDENCE a)       Rural b)       Urban PREVIOUS SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE ON HIV/AIDS a)       Professionals b)       Mass media c)       Relatives and     friends d)       No knowledge	90 1 -   58 32   29 63   15 44 10 23	108 0 1   62 48   23 86   14 68 9 17	2       1     1       3	2.032       1.346     2.987       4.84	>0.05       >0.05     >0.05       >0.05	NS       NS       NS     NS

M= Median; *NS = Not Significant

 

SECTION D: Association of level of knowledge of pre-university students with selected demographic variable like age, gender, place of residence and source of previous knowledge.

Association of level of knowledge of pre-university students with demographic variables was calculated by chi square test

 

The data depicted in Table 6 shows that there is no significant association of knowledge with demographic variables such as age, gender, place of residence and previous source of knowledge.

 

SECTION E: Association of attitude of pre- university students with demographic variables like age, gender, place of residence and source of previous knowledge

Association of level of attitude of pre-university students with demographic variables was calculated by chi square test.

 

 

TABLE 7: Chi square test showing association of level of attitude with demographic variables.                                                     N=200

Sl.No	Variables	<M	>M	df	χ2 value	P Value	Inference
1.       2.       3.   4.	Age 17-19 20-22 >22 Gender Male Female Place of residence Urban Rural Previous source of knowledge on HIV/AIDS a)Professionals(Doctors, Nurses) b)Mass media(News paper,T.V) c)Relatives and friends d)No knowledge	82 0 0   48 36   56 28   12 40 8 25	116 1 1   41 45   92 24   16 70 14 15	2       1     1     3	1.4062       0.333     4.047     8.582	>0.05       >0.05     <0.05     <0.05	NS       NS     S*     S*

M= Median; *S = Significant;  NS = Not significant

 

 

The data depicted in Table 7 shows that there is no significant association of level of attitude with demographic variables such as age and gender and it also show that there is a significant association of attitude with place of residence and previous source of knowledge

 

SECTION F: Correlation of level of knowledge with attitude of pre-university students regarding HIV/AIDS.

The correlation between knowledge and attitude of pre-university students regarding HIV/AIDS was tested by using Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

 

TABLE 8: Relationship between knowledge and attitude regarding HV/AIDS among pre-university students                                N=200

	Mean	df	r	P Value	Inference
Knowledge Knowledge	15.58 22.28	198	0.432	<0.0001	Significant

 

Table 8 shows that there was a significant positive correlation between knowledge and attitude on HIV/AIDS among the pre-university students. The calculated value was 0.432(P<0.0001).

 

DISCUSSION:

The findings of the present study reveals that 138 (69%)  PU students of the sample had adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS and 62 (31%) of the samples are having inadequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The findings of the study can be compared with the cross sectional study which was conducted among secondary school students in Bangladesh to examine the HIV/AIDS related knowledge showed that 69%of secondary school students had adequate knowledge⁵ In another  cross sectional descriptive study conducted among 990 senior secondary school  pupils and 46 trainee teachers in Udupi district, Karnataka to investigate their knowledge of & attitudes to HIV/AIDS 16.9% of pupils were found to possess very little knowledge about HIV/AIDS.⁶

 

Present study shows that majority (68.5%) of pre-university students had favorable attitude and (31.5%) had unfavorable attitude on HIV/AIDS. Similar study conducted to assess the awareness and attitude of the general public towards HIV/AIDS in Coastal Karnataka among 630 individual aged 18 years and above showed that about 1/3^rd of the population thought that one could be infected by merely touching an HIV positive individual. About 54% were willing to undergo the HIV test.⁷

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Study can be done among adolescents, adults or health care workers, or by using large population

 

CONCLUSION:

There is growing evidence of increased premarital sexual activities among young people. Information about behavior, attitude and knowledge through regular surveys is essential to better understand the dynamics of HIV epidemic. This information is also important in assessing changes over time as a result of prevention efforts. Even though several actions were taken to improve the attitude and knowledge of AIDS, still poor attitude and low knowledge is persisting. There is a need for targeted interventions in order to curtail the increasing threat of HIV and other STD’S among these vulnerable populations.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Park, K. Text Book of Preventive and social medicine. 20^th edition. Jabalpur: Banarsidas Bhanot Publishers;2009.

2.       http://www.who.int.hiv/en/

3.       http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11309626

4.       http://www.medind.inc.in

5.       www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov>Journal list>Indian J Community Med> V.33 (1) Jan 2008.

6.       http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10690254

7.       http://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pubmed/22037081

 

 

 

 

Received on 29.03.2016           Modified on 03.04.2016

Accepted on 07.04.2016           © A&V Publication all right reserved