Knowledge About Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: The Perceived Risks of Infection of Thai Adolescents in a Rural Community

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an important health problem of the world. In the present day HIV infection is still an important public health problem for Thailand. Although HIV control program has been set for years there are many false knowledge and knowledge about HIV-infection among the people. Adolescent is one group of population at risk for HIV infection. Sometimes the adolescents overlooked the risks of HIV infection due to inexperience and poor attitude. This study examined the knowledge about HIV infection especially for perception to risks of infection among the Thai adolescents in a rural community of Thailand. The setting is at Bangsaparn District Prachuab Kiri Khan Province about 400 kilometers southern to Bangkok. This study was designed as a cross-sectional descriptive study. Data from self administered questionnaire was collected and statistic analysis was done. We found that the knowledge of the people in that area had rather good but still less than 50% of subjects that had good knowledge. Although all subjects knew that having unsafe sex with a person infected with HIV could transmit HIV but false knowledge to other topics can be demonstrated. We found that knowledge of the subjects significantly related to the level of education. So we concluded that how to provide the people the knowledge about the perceived risks of infection is important. The results indicated that to be effective HIV prevention programs must assess the gap in scientific knowledge and reinforce school programs to present clear messages about the transmission of HIV and utilize effective media sources to reach adolescents. (authors)