AIDS, prevencion, sexual behavior, knowledge and professional readiness.
Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. E11416)
Riscado JL University, Maceio, Brazil
This is research pertains to the concept of sex and sexual activity held by university federal of alagoas, brazil, students in the health area (physical education, nursing, nutrition, medicine, dentistry) and where aids is concerned, their sources of information, knowledge, safe-sex habits, social representations and professional readiness. The sample consists of 343subjets, firts and last-year undergraduate students of each course, with the following characteristics: 67.9% were females and 32.1%, males, aged 16 to 41 years. The data was collected through a survey, by applyng a structured questionnaire. with respect to their knowledge about sexual matters. Both females and males talk first mainly to friends and then to boy/girl friends. For females, Sex is a matter of love while for males it's a matter of pleasure. Females tend to monipartnerships while males boast up to 4 partners. Only 30.56% of the females use condoms and have only one partner as a form of AIDS prevention compared to 21.62% of the males'group. Single partnership is adopted by 45.8% of the females while 63.51% males adopt condoms only as a means to avoid HIV contamination..Where professional readiness with HIV carriers and those with AIDS is concerned, the difficulties observed were due to social representations that consider AIDS from the point of view of the disease, of the infected person's lifestyle, of the fear of contamination and of the imminence of death. Some believe AIDS to be a divine punishment. The University contributes low to knowledge and prevention of HIV nor to surmounting prejudice, discrimination and stigma. The outcomes of this work suggest that, by fostering pedagogical measures so as to surmount prejudice and discrimination, a greater awareness and more ethical professional pratice will be sought as well as adequate projects and actions that foster subjects' safe-sex pratces.
Keywords: AEGIS, Sex Behavior, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Condoms, Knowledge, HIV Infections, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Students, Coitus, HIV Seropositivity, Sex Education, Health Education, Universities, Questionnaires, Safe Sex, Condoms, Female, Brazil, Human, Male, Female, Education
