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Risk perception, knowledge and social distance of Turkish high school students
about HIV/AIDS

Article in Journal of Public Health · July 2006

DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdi085 · Source: PubMed

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Ebru Turhan Yusuf Inandı

Izmir Bakircay Universitesi Mersin University
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Tacettin Inandi
Mustafa Kemal University
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 Journal of Public Health | Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 137–138 | doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdi085 | Advance Access Publication 28 February 2006
Risk perception, knowledge and social distance
of Turkish high school students about HIV/AIDS
Ebru Turhan1, Yusuf Inandi2, Tacettin Inandi3
1
Antakya State Hospital, Turkey
2
Mersin University, Turkey
3
Public Health Department, Medical Faculty, Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey
Address correspondence to Tacettin Inandi, E-mail: inandit@gmail.com
AIDS, in its third decade, is one of the greatest global chal-
lenges, and people with HIV/AIDS have been subjected to
social ostracism, discrimination and violence since the earliest
days of the epidemic.1 Negative attitudes towards people with
illness have a large impact on communities.
In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated risk percep-
tions, knowledge, beliefs and social distance of the Turkish
high school student related to AIDS. In 2004, data were
collected from the provinces of Erzurum and Istanbul
using a questionnaire. One general, 1 health and 1 Muslim
religious high school were randomly selected from the each
province.
A total of 1387 students responded the questionnaire,
and 94.5% believed that AIDS is an important problem for
Turkish society. However, 54.4% stated no HIV risk for
them in the future, and it is higher than in Greece.2 Overall
true response rate was 60.3%, and no idea was 24.1%
regarding AIDS knowledge. In terms of transmission
routes, the true response rate was 61.4% and the correct
rates were lower than 50% regarding insect and mosquito
bite, breast feeding, sharing razor, public bath and toilets,
sneezing and coughing. With regard to preventive methods,
the true response rate was 63.7% and no idea was 23%. The
students stated condom as a preventive method was lower
than monogamy and sharing needle. A positive linear corre-
lation was found between age, grade, population size of
childhood habitat and parent education with the AIDS
knowledge score. As an expected result, students of the
health high schools were more knowledgeable than the
others.
Nearly half of the students expressed discomfort at the
prospect of contact with people with HIV/AIDS (Table 1).
Of the students, 52.7% stated that they should be publicly
announced or somehow marked as HIV+. The desire for
© The Author 2006, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved.
social distance towards people with HIV/AIDS was increas-
ing with age, grade and population size of childhood habitat.
Increasing of the social distance with age and grades is a
notable finding, and it is consistent with a previous study.3
Controlling for gender, the students of the health high
schools have highest social distance score. It seems that
knowledge is not always enough to change attitudes by
alone.4
Lastly, the students had knowledge gap about HIV/AIDS,
and individual risk perception is very low. Negative attitudes
and discrimination are prevalent. As the negative attitudes
significantly increase community burden of diseases,1 more
consideration needs to be given on effective health education
methods.
References
1 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. A Conceptual Frame-
work and Basis for Action: HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination.
UNAIDS-Avenue Appia, Geneva, Switzerland, 2002.
2 Merakou K, Costopoulos C, Marcopoulou J, Kourea-Kremasti-
nou J. Knowledge, attitudes and behaviour after 15 years of
HIV/AIDS prevention in schools. Eur J Public Health 2002; 12:
90–93.
3 Valimaki M, Suominen T, Peate I. Attitudes of professionals, students
and the general public to HIV/AIDS and people with HIV/AIDS: a
review of the research. J Adv Nurs 1998; 27: 752–759.
4 Mulvihill CK. AIDS education for college students: review and pro-
posal for a research-based curriculum. AIDS Educ Prev 1996; 8:
11–25.
Ebru Turhan, Public Health Specialist
Yusuf Inandi, Faculty of Education Sciences
Tacettin Inandi, Associate Professor
137
138 JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Table 1 Attitudes of the students by the items of the social distance scale (n = 1378)

Some attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS Discomfort (%) Absolutely discomfort (%) Total (%)

Sitting side by side in a public bus for a short travel 26.2 22.0 48.2
Sitting side by side in a public bus for a long travel 30.6 17.6 48.2
Shopping from a shopkeeper with HIV/AIDS 27.4 18.4 45.9
A doorkeeper with HIV/AIDS in your apartment 27.8 17.1 44.8
Your lease holder with HIV/AIDS 26.0 17.4 43.4
Joining a family meeting with a HIV-positive person 30.6 15.3 45.9
Playing a game with a HIV-positive person 29.1 18.3 47.4
To talk about your country problems with a HIV-positive person 26.2 19.3 45.5
To talk about your daily problems 25.3 19.6 44.9
Your close neighbour with HIV/AIDS 30.1 18.8 48.9
Your hairdresser or coiffeur with HIV/AIDS 26.1 25.4 51.5
Sharing a room in your workplace with a person HIV/AIDS 30.3 19.2 49.5
Sharing a workplace but in different rooms 25.2 19.1 44.3
That your sister want to marry with a person HIV/AIDS 14.2 35.9 50.1
Total 26.8 20.2 47.0

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