The Effect of Education on Knowledge and Attitude of High School Students about AIDS in Faruj, Iran

Three decades after the incidence of the first cases of AIDS in the world, this problem is still attracting world attention. No problem has been as complex or controversial and unexpected as AIDS in the recent decade. This study was conducted to survey the effect of education through lectures on the knowledge and attitude of high school students regarding AIDS.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 400 high school students of Faruj, in the Northern Khorasan Province, Iran, who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Information was collected using questionnaires that were completed in two stages (pre-test and post-test) by the research units. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and analytical tests such as paired t-test.

The results showed that the mean score of knowledge before education was 2.60 and after education was 2.70 (P < 0.05), it also showed that the average attitude score increased from 2.55 to 2.66 (P < 0.05). The increase in both cases was significant.

Education is effective in improving the knowledge and attitude of students regarding AIDS. Therefore, choosing suitable educational strategies to raise awareness among students and providing new and updated information is among the most efficient and cost-effective measures in preventing AIDS.