WOMEN S KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS AND ATTITUDE TOWARD SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES SUCH AS AIDS (HIV)
Abstract
The study assessed women’s knowledge, beliefs and attitude towards sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs), especially human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A descriptive co-relational cross-sectional study
was conducted on 268 married women at two family planning clinic in the Maternal and Child Health
Centres in Shebin El-Kom, Egypt. A structured questionnaire containing socio-demographic data included the medical, surgical and obstetric history with knowledge, beliefs and attitude. The mean age
of studied women was 30.8 ± 5.7 years; 54% of the sample were from urban residents, about half of
them had secondary education, 57% had enough income and 52.2% were employed. The study outcomes showed that 38% of did not know about STDs. Most women (72.4%) had negative beliefs and
about one-third of women (64.9%) had a negative attitude towards STDs especially for HIV. There was a
significant correlation between women’s perception (knowledge, beliefs and attitude) towards STD with
age, level of education, residence, income and occupation.