Awareness, Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Human Immunodeficiency Virus Among High School Students

Abstract

HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, throughout time  has been a poignant health  concern, specifically among teenagers. The study targeted to distinguish the level of HIV indicated as awareness, knowledge, and attitudes among high school students. In the same manner, it aimed to investigate the relationship amongst the mentioned variables. A descriptive-correlational design aimed to collect data from 304 Grade 9 students from Iligan City National High School, in which a self-developed, expert-validated research instrument, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. Results showed that students illustrated high levels of HIV awareness with a mean of 4.15 and SD of 0.4; HIV knowledge with a mean of 4.43 and SD of 0.55; HIV positive attitudes mean of 4.43 and SD of 0.55. Similarly, poignant positive relationships were demonstrated between attitudes and HIV awareness (r = .490, p < .01) and knowledge (r = .610, p < .01). In addition, regression analysis demonstrated that social impact (B = 0.553, p < .001) and HIV testing and treatment services (B = 0.166, p = .010) significantly proposed students’ attitudes. Lastly, regression analysis revealed that improving both knowledge and social understanding of HIV can enhance positive attitudes and thus, mitigating the stigma among these teenagers.