Knowledge about and attitude towards HIV/AIDS among first year medical students: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a major public health problem in India. It affects mainly young people in sexually active age groups. A number of knowledge, attitude, and practice studies conducted in different parts of India reveal widespread ignorance and misconceptions about the disease among young people. Medical students are the budding doctors of tomorrow and have just entered the noble profession. Thus, there is a need to assess the existing knowledge and attitude towards this HIV/AIDS among them. Objective: The objective was to assess the extent of knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS among first year medical students of a government medical college in North Karnataka. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among all (97) first year medical students of a government medical college in North Karnataka. After taking informed consent, the information regarding knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS was collected from them using a predesigned, pretested structured questionnaire. Results: Of the 97 students who participated, 52 were males and 45 were females. All the students were aware of HIV/AIDS in terms of definition and causation. There was no statistically significant difference among males and females about their knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Conclusion: Though the general level of knowledge of students about HIV/AIDS was not poor, they had a number of misconceptions about it.

Keywords

• Attitude
• HIV/AIDS
• knowledge
• medical students