The Awareness of HIV/AIDS among students of the Secondary Health School in Písek

HIV / AIDS places many governmental, national and international organizations in a difficult situation. Despite the global efforts aimed at the prevention and treatment of this disease, the number of HIV positive persons as well as people dying of AIDS is increasing every year. It is considered that a key role to reduce this trend is played by education, especially among teenagers, who are one of the most vulnerable groups in the transmission of HIV / AIDS. Healthcare professionals should have enough quality information about the issue of HIV / AIDS, because it may just be they who will be one of the links leading to the reduction in the incidence of this infectious disease. This thesis, titled ?Informing students of the Secondary Medical Schools Písek about HIV / AIDS?, contains two parts. The first one is theoretical and it deals with general issues of HIV / AIDS, its characteristics, history, epidemiology, transmission, clinical picture, diagnostics, and treatment. Moreover, it deals with possible methods of preventing HIV transmission, including prevention of HIV transmission in healthcare facilities. This part does not omit the role of peer education and nurses as possible mediators for the transmission of information on preventing HIV / AIDS transmission. The second part summarizes the results of quantitative research, which was conducted with the participation of students of the Secondary Medical School in Písek in the survey. The questionnaire, intended for the students of the said school, was designed in order to verify the knowledge of future healthcare professionals about HIV / AIDS and also it asked whether the students, as adolescents, behave in a way as to increase the risk of HIV transmission. In the questionnaire, which contained 22 questions, the students could express their subjective views on the quality and amount of information about HIV / AIDS provided in their classes at school. The research results were processed and presented by the graphs, bar as well as pie ones, in the empirical part of this thesis. After reviewing the results from the questionnaire these hypotheses were confirmed: H1 Students know the methods of preventing HIV infection. H2 Higher-form students have a wider knowledge of the principles of HIV / AIDS than students of lower forms. In contrast, hypothesis H3 was disproved , which was: ?Students of all forms at the SZŠ in Písek have more information on HIV / AIDS, as compared to an earlier research, than students of another non-medical branch secondary school?. For this purpose, the results of a thesis by Lucie Stříteská were used. Stříteská studied the level of knowledge about HIV / AIDS among students of a secondary vocational school in Valašské Meziříčí in 2008. The results of this thesis can be used by the Secondary Medical School in Písek, or its management and teachers, to learn about the level of students? knowledge about HIV / AIDS and to intensify education in areas where students do not have a good knowledge level during the study