Awareness, Acceptance and Attitude on HIV/AIDS: Perspectives of Students in a University
Authors: Amparado Mauro Allan Padua 
Published: May 2020

This study ascertained the awareness, acceptance and attitude on HIV/AIDS of students in a university. The findings served as basis for a proposed HIV/AIDS education program. This study employed the mixed method design. It was conducted at UCLM, Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines. Quantitatively, the study utilized 400 students who visited the medical clinic from July 1, 2018 to August 31, 2018. The survey consists of 50 items, cafeteria questionnaire. Qualitatively, ten informants were interviewed for one hour, in four consecutive Saturdays. Using an unstructured interview, common themes that emerged from the one-on-one interview was analyzed.Findings revealed that majority of the respondents were male (74.5%), 18 to 20 years old (78%), from the College of Marine Transportation (43.5%), 1st year students (56%), and Roman Catholics (98%). In terms of level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, the table shows that majority of the respondents have excellent knowledge on this disease condition. But based on the item analysis, the following questions had the highest number of wrong answers: confirmatory test for HIV/AIDS (80.5%); phase where symptoms are evident such as rash, cough, malaise, night sweats and lymphadenopathy (76.5%); phase with symptoms including lymphadenopathy, diarrhea, oral candidiasis, weight loss, fatigue, skin rash and fever (65%); phase when test is positive for HIV antigens but no symptoms (64%); and continent with the most number of HIV infections (61%). Most of these questions pertain to the pathophysiology of the disease. Although all ten informants confirmed that they will accept a person living with HIV, if they meet one, there is disparity between this acceptance and the way they respond to a scenario. In the scenario where they are eating with the PLWHIV, most of the informants were hesitant to get food from trays where the PLWHIV got his food. Misconceptions were also noted regarding HIV as a disease condition. (Recommended citation: This study ascertained the awareness, acceptance and attitude on HIV/AIDS of students in a university. The findings served as basis for a proposed HIV/AIDS education program. This study employed the mixed method design. It was conducted at UCLM, Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines. Quantitatively, the study utilized 400 students who visited the medical clinic from July 1, 2018 to August 31, 2018. The survey consists of 50 items, cafeteria questionnaire. Qualitatively, ten informants were interviewed for one hour, in four consecutive Saturdays. Using an unstructured interview, common themes that emerged from the one-on-one interview was analyzed.Findings revealed that majority of the respondents were male (74.5%), 18 to 20 years old (78%), from the College of Marine Transportation (43.5%), 1st year students (56%), and Roman Catholics (98%). In terms of level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, the table shows that majority of the respondents have excellent knowledge on this disease condition. But based on the item analysis, the following questions had the highest number of wrong answers: confirmatory test for HIV/AIDS (80.5%); phase where symptoms are evident such as rash, cough, malaise, night sweats and lymphadenopathy (76.5%); phase with symptoms including lymphadenopathy, diarrhea, oral candidiasis, weight loss, fatigue, skin rash and fever (65%); phase when test is positive for HIV antigens but no symptoms (64%); and continent with the most number of HIV infections (61%). Most of these questions pertain to the pathophysiology of the disease. Although all ten informants confirmed that they will accept a person living with HIV, if they meet one, there is disparity between this acceptance and the way they respond to a scenario. In the scenario where they are eating with the PLWHIV, most of the informants were hesitant to get food from trays where the PLWHIV got his food. Misconceptions were also noted regarding HIV as a disease condition. (Recommended citation: Amparado, M. A. P. (2019). Awareness, Acceptance and Attitude on HIV/AIDS: Perspectives of Students in a University. Cebu Journal of Nursing, 2(1), 29-40).