South Africa has one of the highest prevalence of HIV infections in the world. Sexual
transmission is the primary mode of transmission across the country’s population.
Misinformation about AIDS, negative attitudes to HIV testing and AIDS’ stigmatizing
beliefs represent potential barriers to seeking HIV testing. Youth between 15-24 years
have the greatest risk of HIV infection but only 37% of students at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) had undertaken HIV counselling and testing (HCT) according to
the HEAIDS (2008) report. Prevention of HIV and behaviour change includes knowledge
about, and adequacy of, HIV counselling and testing (HCT) resources on campuses. The
aim of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions about HCT at UKZN and make
recommendations regarding improvements. An observational, analytical, cross-sectional
study of UKZN undergraduate students on the five campuses was conducted. Participants
completed anonymous self-administered questionnaires.
Of 965 surveyed students, 663 (71%) had tested for HIV among whom 545 (58%) were
females and 501(52%) were 20-25 years. Fear of positive results, perceived low risk of
acquiring the infection and having confidence in his/her partner influenced student HIV
testing behaviour (p<0.001). A significant difference was also found in positive attitudes
towards HCT on campus between people who had tested (median score 20) and people
who had not tested (median score 18) (p < 0.05). Since one third of students at UKZN had
not tested for HIV, HCT at UKZN needs to be advertised more effectively so as to increase
HIV testing by students on campuses. / Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/11124 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Venugopala, Rashmi. |
| Contributors | Taylor, Myra. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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