Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Italy.
Regional Health Agency, Sardinia, Italy.
J Prev Med Hyg. 2022 Dec 31;63(4):E541-E548. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.4.2555. eCollection 2022 Dec.
Increasing people's knowledge of transmission, prevention, early diagnosis, and available treatments is a key step toward HIV control; it means setting the conditions for empowerment and enabling individuals to make aware choices about the prevention strategy best suited to their needs. This study aims to identify unmet needs on HIV knowledge among freshman students.
A cross sectional study was carried out at the University of Cagliari, which is an Italian public state university. Data were collected by means of an anonymous questionnaire; the final sample included 801 students.
Results offer a detailed picture of students' knowledge and perceptions of HIV. Several topics deserve to be better understood by students, but the main gaps relate to the pre-exposure prophylaxis and the decreased likelihood of sexually transmitting HIV due to early treatments. Students' vision of the quality of life of people living with HIV was negatively affected by perceiving as relevant the effects of HIV on physical health or on sexual/affective domains, while conversely, it seemed positively affected by knowing that current treatments are useful for counteracting physical symptoms and decreasing the possibility of transmitting HIV.
Being aware of the potential benefits of current therapies could favour a less negative view, in line with the current state of the beneficial effects of HIV treatment. Universities are a valuable setting to bridge the HIV knowledge gap and thus also contribute to tackling stigma and actively promoting HIV testing.
提高人们对传播、预防、早期诊断和现有治疗方法的认识，是控制艾滋病毒的关键步骤；这意味着要为赋权创造条件，使个人能够就最适合其需求的预防策略做出明智的选择。本研究旨在确定新生学生对艾滋病毒知识的未满足需求。
在卡利亚里大学进行了一项横断面研究，该校是一所意大利公立国立大学。通过匿名问卷收集数据；最终样本包括 801 名学生。
结果提供了学生对艾滋病毒的知识和看法的详细情况。有几个主题值得学生更好地理解，但主要的差距与暴露前预防以及由于早期治疗而降低性传播艾滋病毒的可能性有关。学生对艾滋病毒感染者生活质量的看法受到对艾滋病毒对身体健康或性/情感领域的影响的影响，而相反，他们知道目前的治疗方法对对抗身体症状和降低艾滋病毒传播的可能性是有用的，这似乎对他们的看法产生了积极的影响。
了解当前疗法的潜在益处可能有助于形成一种不那么消极的观点，与艾滋病毒治疗的有益效果的现状一致。大学是弥合艾滋病毒知识差距的宝贵场所，因此也有助于解决污名化问题，并积极促进艾滋病毒检测。
