Knowledge, attitude and practice survey of AIDS-related knowledgeamong university students in a pilot site of AIDShealth education in Zhoushan City / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@# To investigate the AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and practice among university students in a pilot site of AIDS health education in Zhoushan City, so as to provide the reference for AIDS health education in universities.@*Methods@#University students were recruited from Zhejiang Ocean University using a stratified cluster sampling method in 2018 and 2020, and the AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and practice were collected using a questionnaire survey. @*Results@#A total of 2 862 and 2 850 students were surveyed in 2018 and 2020, including 1 429 ( 49.93% ) and 1 414 ( 49.61% ) male students, respectively. The overall awareness of AIDS-related knowledge was 86.62% and 94.11% in 2018 and 2020, respectively. There were 544 ( 19.01% ) and 394 ( 13.82% ) students that were in favor of one-night stand, 308 ( 10.76% ) and 198 ( 6.95% ) students that were in favor of commercial sexual behaviors, and there were 59 ( 2.06% ) and 34 ( 1.19% ) students that had casual sexual behaviors within one year, and 20 ( 0.70% ) and 8 students ( 0.28% ) with commercial sexual behaviors within one year. There was a significant difference in the awareness of AIDS-related knowledge among students with different years at the university ( P<0.05 ). The lowest awareness of AIDS-related knowledge was seen in freshmen in 2018 ( 81.74% ), and the highest awareness was found in freshmen in 2020 (97.17% ). The proportions of being in favor of one-night stand ( 2018 31.35% vs. 6.70%; 2020 22.07% vs. 5.71%; P<0.05 ), being in favor of commercial sexual behaviors ( 2018 19.91% vs. 2.23%; 2020 12.09% vs. 1.88%; P<0.05), having casual sexual behaviors within one year (2018 3.71% vs. 0.42%; 2020 2.19% vs. 0.21%; P<0.05), and having commercial sexual behaviors within one year ( 2018 1.33% vs. 0.07%; 2020 0.50% vs. 0.07%; P<0.05 ) were significantly greater in male students than in female students.@*Conclusions@#The pilot AIDS health education is effective to increase the awareness of AIDS-related knowledge, possess the correct attitudes towards sexual behaviors and reduce high-risk sex behaviors among university students in Zhoushan City. Intensified AIDS health education is recommended among senior and male university students.