[Knowledge of school pupils about the HIV/AIDS topic at selected schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania].

AIM OF THE STUDY

The increasing numbers of new HIV diagnoses in Germany generate a need to measure the level of knowledge of the young generation about the issue of HIV/AIDS.

METHODOLOGY

A survey was conducted of 769 pupils of different age groups and from different schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Data analysis was performed using SPSS; statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were tested between the groups using the chi-square test.

RESULTS

The level of knowledge within the sample differs: more precise knowledge is demonstrated by pupils following an awareness event (60%) and by pupils interested in HIV (69%) than by those who have attended no awareness event (40%) and those who have little interest in the issue (31%). Moreover, it was noted that grammar school pupils generally achieve better results than pupils from comprehensive and intermediate secondary schools. Furthermore, there are significant differences between the genders: girls give correct answers more frequently than boys and more often show an interest in the HIV/AIDS issue. In addition, age-specific differences are also identifiable: from the age of 14, there is a considerable increase in knowledge, which then remains static at the age of 16. AIDS education in biology lessons is common among pupils and 93% are familiar with this. Over 70% of pupils are unfamiliar with local AIDS awareness teams.

CONCLUSIONS

There are significant gaps in the level of knowledge about methods of infection, particularly with respect to questions about the no risk areas, which should thus be particularly dealt with in awareness events. As to knowledge transfer, the pupils' interest should be aroused while taking the type of school, gender and age of the pupils into consideration. In the course of the school career, every pupil should take part in at least one awareness event since our survey showed that only 60% attended such an event. Local AIDS awareness teams should be more frequently active in the schools since 73% stated to be unfamiliar with them in our survey.