Perceptions About Hiv/aids and HIV Prevention Behaviors Among University Students in Indonesia

Background: Personal perception is one of factors that would affect health behavior of individual, including risky sexual behavior, which places university students at risk for HIV infection. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between perceptions about HIV/AIDS and HIV prevention behaviors including abstinence, be faithful, and condom use among university students in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in this study. Data were collected from 296 undergraduate students using self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of AIDS health belief questionnaire (AHBQ) and HIV prevention behaviors questions. Chi-square tests were used for data analysis. Results: Roughly 36.8% of university students ever had sexual intercourse before married, 53.2% had multiple sexual partners, and 68.8% did not use a condom consistently. Perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection were significantly associated with abstinence (= 6.700, p<.05 and = 7.471, p<.05, respectively), and condom use (= 9.357, p<.01 and = 14.63, p<.01, respectively). However, perceived severity of HIV/AIDS, and perceived susceptibility to HIV/AIDS were not associated with abstinence, be faithful, and condom use. Conclusion: The findings suggest that HIV prevention campaigns should be designed appropriately to improve perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and decrease perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection

The Relationships among Socio-demographic Characteristics, Structural Empowerment, and Job Satisfaction of Community Health Volunteers in Indonesia

Among different kinds of community resources, human resources are the most essential for the process of developing healthy communities. One of them is community health volunteers. However, it is not easy to keep voluntary workers as part of health programs even though they have been trained. A descriptive correlation study design was used to examine the relationships among socio-demographic characteristics, structural empowerment, and job satisfaction of community health volunteers. A total of 341 of community health volunteers participated in this study. The results showed that some of socio-demographic characteristics of community health volunteers including age, years of experience and training experience were significantly related to job satisfaction. However, the marital status, level of education and occupation of respondents were not significantly associated with job satisfaction. Structural empowerment was significantly associated with job satisfaction of community health volunteers. The study concludes that community health volunteers who had a chance to improve structural empowerment was more likely to have higher level of job satisfaction

Relationships between Gender, Perception, Knowledge, Stigma, and Duration of Treatment Seeking Behavior of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in Indonesia

Tuberculosis is still a major public health problem, especially in developing countries

PERCEPTIONS ABOUT HIV/AIDS AND HIV PREVENTION BEHAVIORS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN INDONESIA

Background: Personal perception is one of factors that would affect health behavior of individual, including risky sexual behavior, which places university students at risk for HIV infection. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between perceptions about HIV/AIDS and HIV prevention behaviors including abstinence, be faithful, and condom use among university students in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in this study. Data were collected from 296 undergraduate students using self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of AIDS health belief questionnaire (AHBQ) and HIV prevention behaviors questions. Chi-square tests were used for data analysis. Results: Roughly 36.8% of university students ever had sexual intercourse before married, 53.2% had multiple sexual partners, and 68.8% did not use a condom consistently. Perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection were significantly associated with abstinence (= 6.700, p<.05 and = 7.471, p<.05, respectively), and condom use (= 9.357, p<.01 and = 14.63, p<.01, respectively). However, perceived severity of HIV/AIDS, and perceived susceptibility to HIV/AIDS were not associated with abstinence, be faithful, and condom use. Conclusion: The findings suggest that HIV prevention campaigns should be designed appropriately to improve perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and decrease perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection