A Descriptive study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude regarding HIV/AIDS among Male in Selected Rural Areas of Thiruvananthapuram District

The study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding HIV/AIDS among male in selected rural areas of Thiruvananthapuram District. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among rural male population. 2. To assess the attitudes regarding HIV/ AIDS among rural male population. 3. To compare the knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS. 4. To find the association between the level of knowledge and attiude with selected demographic variables such as age, religion, education, occupation, monthly income and marital status. The study was based on Health belief model. The design used for this study was descriptive design. The study was conducted in selected areas of Thiruvananthapuram district. Convenience sampling technique was used for selecting the samples. The data collection tools developed for generating the necessary data was a questionnaire and checklist to assess the knowledge and attitude of rural adult males. The content validity of the tool was established by five experts. The reliability was the tool was tested by cronbachs alpha. Their for knowledge was r=0.804 and for attitude was r=0.738. The tool was found to be reliable. pilot study was conducted to find out the feasibility of the study. The tool was administered to the subjects and the data obtained were analyzed in terms of descriptive and inferential statistics. MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: ❖ It is evident that 50% of the persons had adequate knowledge and 30% and 20% were moderate and inadequate knowledge level respectively. ❖ Among the males 48% and 52% of adequate and moderate levels of attitude were assessed and no persons has inadequate attitude on HIV/AIDS. ❖ It is evident that the adequate knowledge and attitude were not significantly determined (P<0.05) The moderate knowledge was 30% and the moderate attitude was 52%. ❖ It is evident that the demographic variables had no significant association between either knowledge or attitude (P > 0.05). IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: • Educate and counsel all HIV/AIDS patients about the disease process, medications, and lifestyle adjustments imposed by the diagnosis. • Comprehensive HIV education must include discussions about strategies to promote regular medication-taking and consistent use of risk reduction behaviors, such as safer sex and avoidance of substance use. • Evaluate for psychosocial concerns, such as depression, stigma, and caregiver burden. • Evaluate economic stressors, including those related to housing, transportation, and access to health care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING EDUCATION: • Nursing curriculum lays emphasis on STD’s and gives very little attention in creating awareness on HIV/AIDS which has scope for independent practice. So, more emphasis can be given to these aspects. • The findings of the present study would help the nursing students to give importance in educating the client regarding HIV/AIDS. • To educate the nursing students regarding HIV/AIDS to practice in community settings. • It can also be included in nursing curriculum. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING ADMINISTRATION: • Inservice education can be conducted to the nursing personnel regarding HIV/AIDS. • Nursing Administrator can prepare a protocol based on institutional policy regarding HIV/AIDS. • In the administrative level periodic conferences, symposium, seminars can be arranged to update the knowledge, skills and practice of the uses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING RESEARCH: • The lack of research based information shall be merged in relation to an intervention applied by nurses. There is need for extensive and intensive research in this area. • The study can be done with large sample for the generalization of the findings. • The same study can be done in different settings. RECOMMENDATIONS: • In future studies more samples has to be selected. • The study has to be conducted on a large basis. • After assessing the knowledge and attitude provide health education to the people. CONCLUSION: The study reveals that there was a statistical relationship between knowledge and attitude of HIV/AIDS among rural adult males