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Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Clerical Students with Respect to HIV/AIDS in Iran, 2011

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Abstract

In this study, knowledge and attitude of Iranian clerical students toward HIV and AIDS was assessed. Through a cross-sectional study, 367 clerical students were surveyed, in convenience sampling method, in the Qom seminary in 2011, utilizing a self-administered structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was piloted on 20 clerical student volunteers, internal consistency measured with Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89. Participants’ scores of knowledge and attitude were calculated out of 100. The level of knowledge in 37.33 % of participants was good (scores >80), whereas 46.05 and 16.62 % had moderate (40 < scores ≤ 80) and poor (scores ≤40) levels of knowledge, respectively. The mean score of knowledge and attitude was 58.29 (95 % CI 56.11–60) and 77.26 (95 % CI 75.92–78.59) out of 100, respectively. A significant correlation was observed between level of knowledge and attitude (r = 0.33, P < 0.001). Knowledge score appeared to be significantly higher in women compared to men (p = 0.04). With an increase in age, the level of knowledge significantly decreased (r = −0.10, P = 0.02). We could also detect a statistically significant relationship between attending educational courses on HIV/AIDS and inclusion of HIV/AIDS topics in the individual’s sermons (P < 0.001). Although clerical students had shown some sort of positive attitudes toward HIV, their knowledge still needs to be improved to enable them to deliver more accurate information to the community during the course of their speeches. Having HIV-related courses as part of their curriculum or aside may contribute a lot to this.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financially supported by Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Grant No. 90.169). The authors would like to express their special thanks to the university and UNAIDS authorities for their support in preparing the gifts for the participants. We would also like to thank the authorities of the Qom seminary, in particular, Mr. Amirian, and all participants, for their kind cooperation.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Bio-statistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mansour Shamsipour

  2. Regional Knowledge Hub, and WHO Collaborating Centre for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Razieh Khajehkazemi, Ali Akbar Haghdoost & Ehsan Mostafavi

  3. Research Center for Modeling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Razieh Khajehkazemi & Ali Akbar Haghdoost

  4. Iranian Association of Medical Law, Tehran, Iran

    Hamidreza Setayesh

  5. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Khartoum, Sudan

    Hamidreza Setayesh

  6. Cultural Unit, Art University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Sajjad KarimanMajd

  7. Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, No. 69, Pasteur Ave., 1316943551, Tehran, Iran

    Ehsan Mostafavi

Authors
  1. Mansour Shamsipour
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  2. Razieh Khajehkazemi
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  3. Ali Akbar Haghdoost
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  4. Hamidreza Setayesh
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  5. Sajjad KarimanMajd
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  6. Ehsan Mostafavi
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Correspondence to Ehsan Mostafavi.

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Shamsipour, M., Khajehkazemi, R., Haghdoost, A.A. et al. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Clerical Students with Respect to HIV/AIDS in Iran, 2011. J Relig Health 55, 26–37 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9964-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9964-6

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