Young students’ awareness about some socially significant infections

Objective. To study Novosibirsk students’ awareness about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Subjects and methods. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted to interview 882 students from 4 Novosibirsk universities. Results. 94% of the respondents are aware of STIs. 90-98% of the respondents assign syphilis and HIV infection to STIs. The ideas of other STIs are far from the truth: STIs include candidiasis as considered by only 30-53% of the young people, chlamydia by 50-63%, gonorrhea by 58%, and hepatitis B by 64%. The majority of respondents correctly consider people who often change their sexual partners, sex workers, and drug addicts to be most vulnerable to STIs. 65% of the respondents indicated the need to use a condom to prevent STI, but only 57% of the respondents practice protected sexual intercourses. Conclusion. Most students of Novosibirsk universities have the right idea about STIs (risk groups, complications, and prevention of these infections). There is a discrepancy between the high level of awareness about STIs and actual behavior. The authors show that it is necessary to diversify procedures and forms of providing information on STIs, which are aimed at their primary prevention.

sexually transmitted infections, anonymous questionnaire survey of students, information sources, risky sexual behavior, prevention