A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections

Abstract

Objective: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) disproportionately affect young people and can result in severe health consequences. Accurate knowledge about STIs can play an important role in STI prevention. Prior quantitative research has found that college students’ knowledge about STIs is insufficient. However, there is a dearth of information regarding their specific STI knowledge deficiencies. This study sought to fill this gap by using a qualitative approach to elucidate gaps in students’ STI knowledge. Design: Qualitative content analysis of responses to an open-ended online survey question. Setting: A large public Midwestern university in the USA. Method: Students ( N = 289) watched a web-based STI health education programme covering basic information about Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes and syphilis as a course requirement. Afterwards they answered an open-ended question about what information, if any, was new to them. Themes and sub-themes were identified, exemplar quotes were selected for illustrative purposes, and frequencies were calculated. Results: Ten overarching themes were identified about what students learned: everything/a lot (19.7%), prevention (16.6%), treatment/cures (15.6%), prevalence/statistics (14.9%), nothing/not much (14.2%), symptomatology (12.8%), everything about a specific STI (9.7%), health consequences (6.6%), transmission (5.5%) and testing (2.4%). Participants reported learning about HPV most frequently compared to other STIs. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate critical gaps in college students’ STI knowledge and provide a deeper understanding of specific knowledge deficiencies. Study findings highlight important sexual health content that should be integrated into health education initiatives in academic, community and other settings, and provides recommendations on how to do so.

Web‐based chlamydia education for university students: A pilot project

“…Nurses caring for university students and other AYA should be aware of these chlamydia knowledge gaps and not assume that knowledge of the importance of chlamydia testing or awareness of chlamydia as a STI equates to adequate knowledge needed to reduce risk. Further, lack of knowledge was a commonly reported barrier to testing among our participants, even after completing the web-based education intervention, suggesting, in line with other research (Lederer & Sheena, 2020), that continued chlamydia education for college-aged individuals is needed.…”

“…Innovative, evidence‐based online interventions that are easily accessible, confidential and aimed at increasing sexual health knowledge in AYA, such as this pilot, are important (Holstrom, 2015 ; Lederer & Sheena, 2020 ; von Rosen et al, 2017 ). Nurses must recognize the popularity of web technology among AYA and consider using these platforms for health education.…”

“…Interventions to increase chlamydia knowledge targeted specifically for university‐aged individuals may encourage increased testing and are needed (Denison et al, 2018 ; Keizur et al, 2021 ; Sagor et al, 2016 ). AYA, including university students, report insufficient sexual health education and a desire for more and better sexual health education (Denison et al, 2018 ; Lederer & Sheena, 2020 ; Normansell et al, 2016 ). International leaders in AYA health strongly endorse comprehensive sexuality education, with STIs being a key issue (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2018 ).…”

“…Nurses and other trustworthy healthcare professionals should work to find effective ways to disseminate accurate and reliable sexual health information to AYA (von Rosen et al, 2017 ). Many AYA have access to smartphones or computers, so interventions that use web‐based technologies are promising (Lederer & Sheena, 2020 ; Sagor et al, 2016 ; Shafii et al, 2014 ). Use of these technologies can address documented AYA barriers to STI knowledge and testing, including confidentiality and ease of access (Cuffe et al, 2016 ; Friedman & Bloodgood, 2010 ; Normansell et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Use of these technologies can address documented AYA barriers to STI knowledge and testing, including confidentiality and ease of access (Cuffe et al, 2016 ; Friedman & Bloodgood, 2010 ; Normansell et al, 2016 ). The persistent lack of sexual health and chlamydia knowledge among university‐aged individuals suggests a need for new and creative strategies to provide sexual health education for this population (Denison et al, 2018 ; Lederer & Sheena, 2020 ).…”