The level of knowledge and attitude related to HIV/AIDS among health science students

• Main Authors: Roslee Rajikan,, You, Yee Xing, Amirah Aqilah Abd Rahim,, Nurin Iman Ahmad Kamal,, Noor Syaffiera Mohd Sharif,, Tan, Yen Yee, Amirah Abdul Halim,, Dalila Abdul Talib,, Muhammad Azif Azizi Md Noh,
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pusat Pembangunan Mahasiswa dan Perhubungan Alumni, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017
• Online Access: http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12352/1/Artikel-14_ROSLEE-RAJIKAN_THE-LEVEL-OF-KNOMLEDGE_FINAL.pdf; http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12352/; http://www.ukm.my/personalia/publication-category/jilid-20-bil-2/

HIV/AIDS is a worrying health issues among Malaysian young adult. This is probably due to the level of knowledge and attitude related to the disease. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge and attitude related to HIV/AIDS among health science students in a Malaysian public university. A total of 216 students were involved in this research (male and female). Respondents were recruited using stratified random sampling. Both level of knowledge and attitude related to HIV/AIDS was assessed by using HIV Knowledge Questionnaires (HIV-KQ). The questionnaires consisted of three parts. The first part was about sociodemographic, second part knowledge related to HIV/AIDS and the last part was about the attitude related to HIV/ AIDS. Most of the respondents were Malays (67%), followed by Chinese (26%), Indians (5%) and others (2%). The results found that the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among 1st year and 2nd year health science students were low. The average of HIV/AIDS knowledge scores of all respondents were 9.41±2.876. Their main source of information for HIV/AIDS came from internet, newspaper and television. Majority of the respondents showed more openness and positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. In conclusion, although the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among health science students in a malaysian public university is low, they showed positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Thus more internet based and youth-friendly education program are required.