Sexually Transmissible Diseases: knowledge, attitudes and behavior among the teenagers of a public school

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) among the teenagers of a public school in the city of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, comparing the differences/similarities between the gender. The methodology used was that of a descriptive cross-sectional study of quantitative character, type survey. The sample consisted of 221 students. The data were analyzed using Student.s t-test, Pearson.s chi-square test or Fisher.s Exact Test. The analyses were performed in the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software, version 10.0. Two hundred and twenty one students from the 7th and 8^th grades were evaluated. None of the gender was predominating. The average age was of 14.4 ± 1.39 years. As refers to the knowledge of the teenagers about STDs, 77.4% declared that they did know something about STD, 20.8% did not have any information and 1.8% did not answer; the most cited STDs were Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with 91.3%, syphilis (66.7%) and gonorrhea (64.3%). Almost the entire sample (93.7%) declared to know the meaning of STD, only 6.3% did not. It may be concluded that the great majority receives information at school (77.8%), from health agents (35.1%) and through TV (31%). With respect to male condom use, 90.9% of the sample uses the condom, 4.5% do not and 1.5% had never used it. This study allows concluding that the great majority of the teenagers have appropriate knowledge about STDs. The girls showed more conscious of the importance of using a condom, mentioning that the boys tended to resist to its use. This might be indicative of a sociocultural question and of the need to raise the awareness of the boys with regard to condom use.