Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and associated factors of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Ora Community, Edo State

Abstract

Background: Adolescents constitute a significant proportion of the vulnerable group in the society and often engage in risky sexual behaviours which predispose to HIV/AIDS.
 Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, preventive practices of HIV/AIDS and its associated factors among adolescents in Ora community, Edo State.
 Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 440 secondary school students selected by stratified sampling technique. Data was obtained with pretested interviewer-administered questionnaires.
 Results: Two hundred and forty-two (242; 55.0%) of the respondents were aged 10 – 14 years. Two hundred and seventy-one 271 (61.6%) of the respondents had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS, while 291 (59.3%) had a positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Age 15 – 19 years (p = 0.001) male sex (p = 0.049) and respondents in SS2 class (p = 0.005) were significantly associated with knowledge. A negative attitude was recorded among 139 (51.3%) students who had good knowledge. The relationship between knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS was statistically significant (p = 0.01). Twenty-five (73.5%) of the sexually active respondents had poor preventive practice regarding HIV/AIDS.
 Conclusion: More than half of the students had good knowledge and positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS while a majority of them who were sexually active had poor preventive practices. Respondents aged 15 – 19 years, males and in SS2 class significantly had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Health education intervention programs targeted on the prevention of HIV/AIDS should be designed for Secondary School Students.

Sexual and reproductive health literacy among young people in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence synthesis and implications

“… Fasoranti, Onwuama [ 31 ]; 2018 Nigeria To assess the access to health information and family influence on reproductive HL among school girls Cross-sectional; quantitative School; 243 female secondary school students aged 10–19 years; purposive sampling Self-developed &pretested questionnaire Access to reproductive health information is limited; the adolescents reproductive health literacy was poor, and family influenced the girls’ reproductive health literacy. Obarisiagbon, Ofili [ 48 ]; 2019 Nigeria To assess knowledge, attitude, preventive practices of HIV/AIDS and associated factors among school adolescents Cross-sectional; quantitative School; 440 secondary school students aged 10–19 years; stratified sampling Pretested questionnaire About 61.6% of the respondents had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS; 51.3% of the adolescents who had good knowledge had negative attitude towards HIV/AIDS, and the association between knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS was significant ( p = 0.01). About 73.5% of the sexually active adolescents had poor HIV/AIDS preventive practice.…”

“…Five studies [ 40–43 , 46 ] mentioned that they used pre-tested questionnaires. The remaining studies [ 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 52–55 , 58–61 ] did not specify whether the questionnaires were validated or pretested.…”

“…Of the 24 eligible studies, 20 studies measured SRH knowledge of participants. Of these 20 studies, 13 studies were concerned with young people in schools, and seven of these studies [ 44 , 50–52 , 55 , 58 , 60 ] found that the majority of respondents had inadequate SRH knowledge, while the remaining six studies [ 39 , 40 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 57 ] reported that more than half of respondents had good knowledge of some aspects of SRH. For instance, Barchi et al [ 39 ] found that 90% of respondents were aware of one or more forms of contraception, although only 67% could name a method for which they knew a source, and Obarisiagbon et al [ 48 ] reported that 61.6% of study participants had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS.…”

“…Of these 20 studies, 13 studies were concerned with young people in schools, and seven of these studies [ 44 , 50–52 , 55 , 58 , 60 ] found that the majority of respondents had inadequate SRH knowledge, while the remaining six studies [ 39 , 40 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 57 ] reported that more than half of respondents had good knowledge of some aspects of SRH. For instance, Barchi et al [ 39 ] found that 90% of respondents were aware of one or more forms of contraception, although only 67% could name a method for which they knew a source, and Obarisiagbon et al [ 48 ] reported that 61.6% of study participants had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Three of the 20 studies measured SRH knowledge among young people at universities, and one of them [ 49 ] found poor SRH knowledge among participants, while the remaining two studies [ 43 , 46 ] found good knowledge levels in different aspects of SRH among respondents.…”

“…Of the total eligible studies, 16 studies identified different sources of SRH information and knowledge among young people. Of the 16 studies, 13 studies [ 39 , 40 , 47 , 48 , 50–52 , 55 , 57 , 58 ] were conducted on young people in school settings, and three studies [ 43 , 54 , 56 ] were conducted on young people in university settings. These studies identified radio, television, friends or peers, teachers/school-based lessons or programmes, family members other than parents (e.g.…”