Knowledge, attitude and practice of non-medical students to the ways of transmission and prevention of AIDS in Rafsanjan city

Prerequisite for implementation of behavior modification interventions to reduce the spread of AIDS among young people is understand their knowledge and attitudes associated with subjects related to AIDS. If the youth must be reduce HIV, it is necessary to know what the risks are and how it can be avoided. This study aimed to determine knowledge, attitude and practice of non-medical students to the ways of transmission and prevention of AIDS as a prerequisite for subsequent corrective interventions were performed. This descriptive analytic study on 384 non-medical students of non-random sampling was done. Students voluntarily and in full consciousness of the subject in the study participated. Instrument for data collection was constructed questionnaire consisting of four sections including demographic data, knowledge (20 questions), attitude (11 questions) and behavior (16 questions). Because of confidentiality; students put the completed questionnaires into sealed box. Data was analyzed with using the software SPSS v.17. The Statistical tests include Chi square test, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation coefficient was used and data with P<0.05 were considered significant. 282(73.4%) of subjects were female and 102 male (26.6%) and their mean age 22±2 years. The mean scores were: knowledge 50.4±4, attitude 18.4±2.26 and behavior 24.3±2.2. 89.6% of them had good knowledge, 80.2% had relatively positive attitude and 52.6% of them had safe behavior against HIV disease. Between the knowledge with attitude scores, as well as attitude and behavior significant relationship was observed (P<0.0001). The results showed that improving knowledge and attitudes, the performance will also improve. Also, people who had a more positive attitude towards the disease had a more secure behavior. Thus, with promoting awareness and understanding of people can be much reduced high-risk behaviors and controlled this fatal disease.