Knowledge, attitude, and practice on HIV/AIDS among Chabahar high school students in 2007

Background and ObjectivesAIDS is a pandemic disease that threatens the world population. At first, this disease was transmitted by blood products in Iran; however, it expanded through other routes. Considering this change of transmission pattern, it is necessary to raise the awareness of the public especially high risk groups thereby placing impact on prevention. The present cross–sectional study was carried out to determine knowledge level of high school students of Chabahar city about AIDS. Materials and MethodsA cross sectional survey among randomly selected high school students in Chabahar city was conducted. The students responded to anonymous questionnaires. Knowledge and attitude were scored. Sample size was 500 and data analysis was performed by SPSS version 17. ResultsOut of 500 students, 51.6% (258) and 48.4% (242) were boys and girls, respectively; among them 47.6% had good and 36.6% moderate knowledge about AIDS. Knowledge of girls was estimated to be significantly higher than boys. In 48% of students, the attitude towards HIV positive persons was bad and in 19% good. There was shown to be a direct correlation between attitude and practice with knowledge. ConclusionsAlthough the knowledge level of the students seems to be good, misconceptions about the routes of transmission were common. There was a substantial intolerant attitude towards AIDS and HIV positive patients. We recommend that strategies for AIDS risk reduction in Iranian high schools to be implemented