Predictors of adherence of young graduates to a program of educational intervention for prevention of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Aliete Cristina Gomes Dias Pedrosa da Cunha
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.esenfc.pt/?url=nXvW17G7
• topic: predictors of adherence; HIV; program of educational interventio; university students

Introduction: this study examines predictors of adherence by university students to a program of educational intervention to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Methods: recruitment was performed in the classroom, where the researcher explained the objectives and methodology of the research. Inclusion criteria were: being a freshmen at the University of Coimbra, 18 to 24 years of age. We used a self-report questionnaire containing indicators and risk factors adopted by UNAIDS, and second generation ones related to HIV infection. Diplomas were given to participants at the end of the training. Results: the study, a quantitative analysis, included two phases. First, 551 youth participated by simple random sampling which agreed to complete the questionnaire and participate. Second, who effectively adhered and started the training was included. The two phases were separated by one month. Four independent variables showed significant contribution to the model: risk perception, scientific area of studies, sexual initiation, and sexual partners in the preceding 12 months. The biggest predictor of adherence was the age of sexual initiation, indicating that participants who had already started their sexual life were three times more likely to adhere to a program of HIV prevention than those who were not yet sexually active. Participants in the scientific area of Health and those with greater risk perception were about twice as likely to adhere. The number of "sex partners in the past 12 months" was also a predictor of adherence, and showed that participants with secondary abstinence were about 0.3 times more likely to join