Chon Vichea, 1969-. HIV preventive behaviors among high school male students in Phnom Penh city, Cambodia : an application of health belief model . Master's Degree(Primary Health Care Management). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2005.
HIV preventive behaviors among high school male students in Phnom Penh city, Cambodia : an application of health belief model
Abstract:
This cross-sectional study investigated sexual behavior and HIV preventive behaviors among male high school students in Phnom Penh City. Four hundred and nine students were selected by random proportional stratified sampling. This study also examined the relationship between the perceptions of HIV infection and HIV preventive behaviors with knowledge about HIV/AIDS using t-tests and Pearsons correlation. The results revealed that 8.8% of the students had had sexual experience and that 91.2% had had no sexual experience. A those who had had sexual experience, the study also found that 36.1% had had sexual experience only with their girlfriends and 36.1% had had sexual experience with a commercial sex worker (CSW). However, 27.8% of them had had experience with both. With regard to condom use, 65.2% of the students always used a condom with their girlfriend and 95.7% of them always used a condom with a commercial sex worker. With regard to knowledge, 47.2% of them had a moderate level of knowledge, and 15.8% of them were in the low level group. More than ninety percent of the students (93.2%) received information from TV/Radio. A significant negative correlation was found between knowledge and perceptions of HIV infection (r=-0.153, P-value=0.008 for perceived severity, and r=-0.163, P-value=0.001 for perceived barriers). There was a significant difference between the group of students who had had sex with only their girlfriends (Mean=2.31) and those who had had sex with the both a girlfriend and CSW (Mean=1.96) with t=2.123, P-values=0.020. For perceived susceptibility to HIV infection, the mean score of those who always used a condom (Mean=1.95) was higher than the mean score of those who did not use a condom, or used a condom sometimes (Mean=1.00), and there was a significant difference (t=1.922, P-value=0.034). Based on these results, the level of knowledge was moderate in high school students in Phnom Penh, and the Cambodian and HIV/AIDS educational curriculum should be modified and the curriculum revised. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health should liaise with each other and develop strategies for preventing HIV/AIDS in order to integrate HIV/AIDS education into public schools in the future, in terms of HIV preventive behavior among high school male students in Phnom Penh, Cambodia