TO FIND OUT CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWORDS HIV/AIDS OF 1ST YEAR AND IVTH YEAR MBBS STUDENTS

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Dr. Seema Sharma,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Community Medicine,
MAMC, Agroha, Hisar,
Haryana.
Email: neelumd_12@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: HIV/AIDS are a major concern of health care professionals all over the world. Adolescent age group remains a focus group for I.E.C. activities regarding HIV/AIDS as they pass through a phase of experimentation and initiation of sexual activities. As new entrant medical students also form a part of this vulnerable section, their knowledge assessment about HIV/AIDS will help us in planning for teaching related to these issues. OBJECTIVE: Objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students about HIV/AIDS and to compare the knowledge and attitude of MBBS students towards HIV/AIDS with increase years of study. STUDY DESIGN: cross-sectional. SETTING: MAMC, Agroha. PARTICIPANTS: 92 Medical students, of which 47 were from 1st Year and 45 from 4th year. METHODS: A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the students after having obtained their informed consent. All the questions were explained and all queries were clarified. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Simple Percentage and Chi squire. RESULTS: All the respondents had heard about HIV/AIDS. There were some misconceptions among the students like; HIV can spread through kissing, polluted air, sharing bed/clothes and mosquito bite. With regards to the attitude of students towards HIV/ AIDS, the percentage of students who believed that they have the right to refuse treatment to a HIV patient was significantly decreased with the increase in the years of study. Percentage of knowledge regarding all the methods of prevention is significantly increases from 74.5% to 95.6% with the increase in the years of study. Most common source of information regarding HIV/AIDS was television followed by textbooks, newspaper, friends/family members, radio, hoardings, and health personnel. CONCLUSION: The health care sector has generally been the most conspicuous context for HIV/AIDS related discrimination, stigma and denial. So the young doctors need to be adequately trained regarding all issues pertaining to prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.
KEYWORDS: Knowledge, Attitude, Compare, Medical students, HIV/AIDS.