Determining of Knowledge Level of Nursing Students on HIV/AIDS

Background: Nurses play a key role in HIV prevention and caring of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Nursing students are the future nurses who may eventually find them dealing with individuals with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, receiving a comprehensive education on HIV/AIDS and related issues assists nurses accomplish nursing care appropriately. The purpose of this study was to discover the extent of knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Turkish undergraduate nursing students. Methods: A pre-tested-structured questionnaire, which included the demographic information, knowledge of HIV/AIDS were utilized in this descriptive cross-sectional study. A total of 808 nursing students from two universities were included in this study. IBM SPSS version 22.0 statistical software with 95% interval of significance was applied for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, student t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson correlation were applied during data analysis. Results: Nursing students displayed a fairly decent degree of knowledge in the aspects of nature and causes, diagnosis and treatment, and prevention of HIV/AIDS. As the educational year increased the students showed decent knowledge (P<0.05). Gender and age difference weren't associated with knowledge of the students (P>0.05). Higher level students showed increased knowledge and understanding in the study when it comes to HIV/AIDS prevention and misconceptions. Conclusion: It was determined that students in this study scored good knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention. However, there was also a need of improvement in respect of pathophysiology and the transmission ways of the disease. Training strategies such as group or panel discussions are suggested to assist students improve their knowledge about HIV/ADIS