Paper: A Quick Survey of an HBCU's Senior Year Students' Perception of the HIV/AIDS Phenomenon (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Thursday, 10 July 2008: 1:15 PM

Joseph A. Adepoju , Nursing, Delaware State University, College of Health and Public Policy, Dover, DE

Mary P. Watkins, Ph, D, RN , Nursing, Delaware State University, Coll. of Health and Public Policy, Dover, DE

Agnes Richardson, DSL, RN , Nursing, Delaware State University, Coll. of Health and Public Policy, Dover, DE

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to appraise how much knowledge the students had aquired in the area of HIV/AIDS during their nearly four years of baccalaureate education

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to ascertain whether there has been a change in the students' attitudes towards the use of condoms as a measure of prevention agasinst HIV/AIDS

This is a follow-up study of this cohort of students who were surveyed in the first semester of their freshman year. Out of the sixty-eight students in the original study,only twenty-one students made it to the senior year and twenty out of twenty-one participated in the study. The purpose of the study this time was to appraise the how much knowledge the students had aquired in the area of HIV/AIDS during the nearly four years of baccalaureate education. Another purpose also was to ascertain whether ther has been a change in the students' attitudes towards the use of condoms as a measure of prevention against HIV/AIDS. The questionnaire was modified to reflect age at sexual debut and also to reflect the number of sexual parners they have had in their life time. Findings from the survey indicate that the students were sexually active as early as thirteen years of age, that many of the respondents have had multiple partners, and that a few of them had suffered from and been treated for STDs. It is also found that despite their educational level, many of the students still did not use condoms while engaged in sexual intercourse. The study is only limited to one HBCU which render it impossible to generalize as to what is happening in other HBCUs, but we feel strongly that the result of this study needs to be disseminated to inform faculty in baccalaureate nursing programs of the neccessity to intensify HIV/AIDS prevention education in their curricula.

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