Knowledge and attitudes of married women referred to health centers affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, about AIDS and related factors

Background and Expanding of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is such an important issue that one of the main goals of World Health Organization (WHO) is increasing of knowledge about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS in general population. Thus, in Iran forth developing program, prevention programs for HIV/AIDS has been mentioned. AIDS is a behavioral disease, so education is necessary for changing high-risk behaviors. In this descriptive study, 9207 married women at the age of 10-49 years who were coming to health centers were selected by systematic method sampling. We collected data by a valid questioner. Total score for knowledge and attitude was 100. 85.4% of women were living in cities and 14.6% in villages. Most of them were homemaker (93.4%). The women were trained about HIV/AIDS but just 13.4% of them had complete awareness. The first source for getting information was television and then, health care providers. The mean score for knowledge was 81.6 ± 17.7 and there was a significant relation between the score of knowledge and women''s age, educational level and career (P < 0.001). Findings showed limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS so we need to improve methods of training and use variety in our awareness program for married women at the age of 10 to 49. It is necessary to keep the rights of patients and increase social marketing for voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), care and treatment of people live with HIV/AIDS.