Effectiveness of Peer Education on Knowledge and Attitudes of HIV/AIDS in Shenyeng, China

• Author: Lijuan Fan,Junqiao Guo,Zhe Guan,Zhanbao Ma,Ling Zhou,Yuan Gu,Baosen Zhou
• Date: 01 June 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.2202/1948-4682.1147
• Published date: 01 June 2011

Volume 3, Issue 2 • 2011 • Article 5

Effectiveness of Peer Education on Knowledge and Attitudes of

HIV/AIDS in Shenyeng, China

Ling Zhou, China Medical University

Junqiao Guo, Liaoning Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Zhanbao Ma, China Medical University

Lijuan Fan, Heping County Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Yuan Gu, Shenyang Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Zhe Guan, Medical College of Shenyang

Baosen Zhou, China Medical University

Zhou, Ling; Guo, Junqiao; Ma, Zhanbao; Fan, Lijuan; Gu, Yuan; Guan, Zhe; and Zhou, Baosen

(2011) "Effectiveness of Peer Education on Knowledge and Attitudes of HIV/AIDS in Shenyeng,

China," World Medical & Health Policy: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 5.

http://www.psocommons.org/wmhp/vol3/iss2/art5

DOI: 10.2202/1948-4682.1147

©2011 Policy Studies Organization

Effectiveness of Peer Education on

Knowledge and Attitudes of HIV/AIDS in

Shenyeng, China

Ling Zhou, China Medical University

Junqiao Guo, Liaoning Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Zhanbao Ma, China Medical University

Lijuan Fan, Heping County Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Yuan Gu, Shenyang Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Zhe Guan, Medical College of Shenyang

Baosen Zhou, China Medical University

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of educational HIV/AIDS prevention programs in two

medical universities in Shenyang, China.

Methods: Changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes were evaluated following an

educational intervention program involving 2,418 graduate medical students (n=1,319 intervention

group, n=1,099 control group), which was delivered by a final team of 32 medical student peers

who had been trained to be trainers for the current study.

Results: Following the training, 72.6% of the students learned that mosquito bites cannot

transmit HIV. Students also learned that sharing a toothbrush (66.9%) and hairdressing

implements (63.3%) can transmit HIV. The learning scores were somewhat lower for the items

“Exercise cannot reduce the risk of HIV transmission (49.7%)” and “HIV transmission from male

to female is greater than female to male (44.7%).” While there were significant improvements in

knowledge and/or attitude scores between the pre- and post-test in the intervention group, no

significant changes were found in the control group.

Conclusion: The overall finding indicates that peer education improves HIV/AIDS-related

knowledge and attitudes among medical students from the two universities.

Limitations: The results of this study cannot be generalized to other population groups since

medical students are more knowledgeable on health topics than the general population. The study

was limited to two medical universities. A broader segment of the medical universities should be

chosen for future studies. Peer education should also be related to student scholastic

accomplishments to determine if results are modulated by factors such as student motivation or

academic acumen as roughly reflected in grades. These results could have also been influenced by

other external information sources.

目的 评估中国沈阳市两所医学院校艾滋病预防的同伴教育的有效性。