KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS HIV ANTI-BODY TESTING AND RISK BEHAVIOUR AMONG STUDENTS OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN OYO TOWN, OYO STATE NIGERIA.

Abstract

Students in tertiary institutions are at risk of contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) because they fall within the age bracket that is in the sexually active age group. Although, many studies have been carried out on HIV/AIDS in the school setting in Nigerian, little has been done on knowledge and altitude towards HIV antibody testing among students of the Colleges of Education. The objective of this study is to determine, the knowledge and attitude towards HIV testing and risk behaviour among students in College of Education in Oyo Town. In this descriptive exploratory study, 244 (61.0%) female and 156 (39.0%) male respondents were selected through a systematic random sampling technique from the two Colleges of Education in Oyo town. The survey utilized both qualitative and quantitative data gathering methods. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were used to obtain information on knowledge and attitude towards HIV antibody testing and risk behaviour among students. This was used to construct a semi-structured questionnaire, which was pretested, corrected and administered proportionately on 266 and 134 respondents in St Andrew's College of Education and Federal College of Education (Special), respectively. A scale ranging from 0-24 points was used to score respondents on knowledge about HIV/AIDS in respect of mode of transmission, prevention and cure, and a point scale of 0-4 was used to assess knowledge of HIV testing, testing centers, signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS and advantages and disadvantages of testing. Furthermore, a scale ranging from 0-55 points was used to determine students' attitude toward HIV antibody testing. A total of 400 students were interviewed. Results showed that respondents' ages ranged between 15-29 years with a mean of 21.6. Majority, 396 (99.0%) were single, 386 (96.5%) were Yoruba and 315 (79.0%) were Christians, One hundred and eighty seven (46 8%) respondents claimed to have had sexual experience and their first sexual intercourse was between ages 10-24 years (mean 17.6years). Out of this number, 36 (19.2%) had multiple sexual partners, 137 (73.3%) had one sexual partner and 14 (7.5%) claimed abstinence within the past 6 months. Of the 36 respondents with multiple sexual partners, 19 (52.8%) used condom regularly with casual partners and 11 (30.6%) with steady partners. The group mean score for HTV/AIDS knowledge was high (15.8), and this is slightly higher among males (16.2) than females (15.5). A group mean score of (2.0) was recorded in respect of knowledge of HIV testing, but the score was significantly higher among males (2.1) than females (1.9). Furthermore, the group means score for attitudinal disposition to HIV antibody testing was average. 40.1, with scores of 26.3 and 24.8 recorded among the male and female respondents respectively. Overall, only 160 (40.0%) of the respondents were willing to go for HIV antibody testing in the near future, comprising a higher percentage of males 69 (43.1%) than females 91 (56.9%). Of the 187 (46.8%) respondents with a sexual experience, a higher percentage of females 44 (50.6%) than males 43 (43.4%) were also willing to take the test. It is, however, significant that more respondents with sexual experience 87 (54.4%) were willing to go for HIV testing than those without sexual experience 73 (45.6%) (P=0.017). Major reasons given by respondents not willing to go for HIV anti-- body testing include perceived non-susceptibility, lack of knowledge of HIV antibody testing and testing centers, lack of belief in test validity, inaccessibility, and lack of Interest. These findings showed that although knowledge of HIV/AIDS was high and respondents have favourable attitudinal disposition to HIV testing, willingness to take HIV test was low. It is therefore suggested that there is a need for more health education on HIV antibody testing and healthful behaviours that could promote the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS among students.