Survey of the level of awareness among adolescents of sexually transmitted diseases and ways to prevent them

Abstract

In the last few years, there has been a decrease in the age when adolescents first start their sexual lives. What is more, there is insufficient awareness about sexually transmitted diseases and unwillingness to observe good sexual health amongst adolescents. Quite often the control of parents, school teachers and community is also insufficient and that causes potential dangers. Some of these issues are contracting sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and abortions. This provokes the search for adequate means for the formation of values in adolescents in regard to good sexual and reproductive health. AIM: Establishing the level of knowledge among adolescents about the ways of how sexually transmitted diseases are contracted and how to prevent them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the period between September and December 2015, an anonymous survey was conducted among 145 students between the ages of 15 and 19 from the cities of Sliven and Tvarditsa. RESULTS: In regard to the knowledge of the ways of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, the highest awareness level was the one about AIDS-93.8% and the one about syphilis-71.7%. Knowledge regarding the transmission of HIV/AIDS was extremely high: 91% of the surveyed indicated that AIDS is transmitted through sexual contact without the use of a condom and 93% of the surveyed are adamant about the necessity of condoms. The surveyed students indicated that they gathered their information about sexually transmitted diseases mainly from the Internet-73.8%, followed by health education materials-52%. CONCLUSIONS: The highest level of knowledge is about AIDS and syphilis. There is enough motivation for the use of condoms and it should be maintained over time. Information gathered through the Internet replaces sexual education as the main way of gaining knowledge in regard to sexually transmitted diseases.