A Study on Soldiers' Knowledge, Attitude and Health Belief about AIDS

일반 사병들의 에이즈에 대한 지식, 태도, 건강신념에 관한 연구

Purpose: This study purposed to investigate the relationship between soldiers' general characteristic and their knowledge, attitude and health-belief about AIDS. Method: This study conducted a survey of 197 soldiers using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected from the 10th to 30th of May 2003. Result: The average age of the participants was 21.6 years, 78.2% of them were undergraduates of universities, and by religion the number of Christians was largest. In addition, 81.2% of them had lived with their parents and siblings before they joined the army and most of them were unmarried. Of the subjects, 75.1% finished education about AIDS, 64.5% experienced a sexual intercourse and 6.3% experienced a venereal disease. The participants' knowledge level about AIDS was 14.6 out of 20 points and their attitude about AIDS is 3.96 out of 5 points on the average. Their health-belief about AIDS was 4.0 out of 5 points in 'perceived benefits,' 2.9 in 'perceived barriers,' 2.6 in 'perceived seriousness' and 2.6 in 'perceived sensitivity. Among the subjects' general characteristics, religion was found to be a statistically significant variable for their knowledge level about AIDS. A variable that is statistically significant for the subjects' attitude toward AIDS was families they had lived together before joining the army. Statistically significant variables for the subjects' health-belief about AIDS were perceived sensitivity and experience in venereal diseases, perceived benefits and AIDS education and perceived barriers and marital status. The subjects' knowledge about AIDS was in a statistically significant correlation with their attitude toward AIDS, and their attitude toward AIDS with perceived benefits. Conclusion: According to the results of this study. those who had had AIDS education appeared to have high attitude and health-belief concerning AIDS. Thus it is necessary to execute AIDS education systematically and continuously in order to have right attitude and high health-belief concerning AIDS.