A survey on the knowledge and attitudes among the students of Al-Azhar University to HIV/AIDS, the Gaza Strip-Palestine

Abstract

Objective: The study assessed the knowledge and attitudes of students’ at a university in Gaza regarding HIV/AIDS and identified differences in knowledge about HIV, and attitudes by gender, locality, and social and economic status. Methods: This descriptive study targeted 492 students of Al-Azhar University-Gaza. The participants completed self-administered questionnaires that included the following dimensions: socio-demographic, measurements of student's knowledge level and measurement of student's attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Results: Findings showed moderate level of knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS although there was a very low of perception regarding the acceptance and sharing of HIV/AIDS persons. It means that only one third of the study respondents are willingness to be in close touch with people living with HIV or even communication with them, and less than fifty percent thought that it is their right to be engaged in a public or governmental job, stigma and discriminatory attitudes toward HIV/AIDS persons is high only 48% of the students thought it right to employ people living with HIV (PLHIV) and 35.5% refused to work in the same place with PLHIV. Conclusion: This study indicates the need for improving the level of knowledge as well as promoting the students' towards positive attitude.

Keywords

• AIDS
• Knowledge
• attitude
• students
• Gaza

Filistin Gazze’de Al-Azhar Üniversitesi öğrencilerinin HIV/AIDS’e yönelik bilgi ve tutumlarının değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışmada Gazze’de üniversite öğrencilerinin HIV/AIDS konusunda bilgi ve tutumları değerlendirilmiş ve cinsiyete, yaşanılan yere, sosyal ve ekonomik duruma göre HIV bilgi durumundaki farklılıklar tanımlanmıştır. Yöntem: Bu tanımlayıcı çalışmaya Gazze’de Al-Azhar Üniversitesin’den 492 öğrenci katılmıştır. Öğrenciler sosyodemografik özellikler, HIV/AIDS konusunda bilgi düzey ve tutumlarını içeren anketi kendileri doldurmuştur. Bulgular: Öğrencilerin HIV/AIDS’li bireylerle eşya paylaşımı konusunda algı düzeylerinin düşük olmasına karşılık, HIV/AIDS ile bilgileri orta düzeydedir. Çalışmaya katılanların yalnızca üçte biri HIV taşıyan bireylere dokunma ve iletişim kurmaya istekliydi. Öğrencilerin %50’den azı HIV/AIDS’li bireylerin toplumsal veya devlet işlerinde çalışma hakları olduğunu düşünmekteydi. HIV/AIDS taşıyan bireylere karşı damgalama ve ayrımcı tutumlar yüksekti. HIV taşıyan bireylerin çalışma hakkı olduğunu düşünen öğrencilerin oranı %48’di ve öğrencilerin %35.5’i HIV taşıyan bireylerle aynı ortamda çalışmayı istememekteydi. Sonuç: Bu çalışma öğrencilerin bilgi düzeylerinin iyileştirilmesi ile birlikte olumlu tutum geliştirmeleri için desteklenmeleri gerektiğinin göstermiştir.

Keywords

• AIDS
• bilgi
• tutum
• öğrenciler
• HIV
• Gazze

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