Evaluation of direct and indirect health education in students' knowlege and attitude about AIDS

Abstract

This inverstigation is a quasi-experimental study comparing the effects of two methods of health education on student's knowledge and attitudes about AIDS. The target population consisted of 218 male undergraduates studying in Payame Noor University in Saghez, Iran. A random sample of 106 students was selected using sample random sampling method. The students were randomly divided into two experimental groups. One group was educated about AIDS using a direct method of health education and indirect method was used for the other group. Using pretest/posttest method of data collection, analysis of the data showed a significant difference between each group's knowledge and attitudes before and after the educational programs. Comparison of the two educational methods showed no significant difference on student's knowledge about AIDS. However, method one (using a direct method of health education) was significantly more effective in changing student's attitudes towards AIDS than method 2 (using an indirect method of health education).