Abstract

BLANCO-CEDRES, Lucila; PEREZ RANCEL, María  and  OSUNA, Zulaima. VIH/SIDA: conocimientos y conducta sexual. Gac Méd Caracas [online]. 2005, vol.113, n.3, pp.372-378. ISSN 0367-4762.

An investigation was undertaken with the objective to describe knowledge on HIV/AIDS and sexual conducts among university students from different socioeconomic strata in the Gran Caracas. A questionnaire was applied to explore aspects related to socioeconomic variables, sexual conduct and knowledge on HIV/AIDS. The statistical analyses were based on the chi-squared test and the multidimensional scaling technique. The results showed a high percentage of students without conceptual knowledge on HIV/AIDS. Students from high socioeconomic stratum exhibited lesser presence of sexual conducts related to high risk behaviors associated with HIV/AIDS, as well as, greater similarity on their correct responses. The students from low-medium social strata are at greater risk for acquiring HIV/AIDS, since they engage in high-risk sexual conducts.

Keywords : Knowledge on HIV /AIDS; Sexual conduct; Multidimensional scaling.