ABSTRACT

Fulgar, Adrian P., Martinez, Jayvee Renz 0., Marquez, Marnelli C. "KNOWLEDGE LEVEL ON SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION OF NURSING STUDENTS IN AQUINAS UNIVERSITY OF LEGAZPI," (An Undergraduate Thesis, Aquinas University College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Rawis, Legazpi City, 2013)

The study identified the knowledge level of nursing students of Aquinas University of Legazpi on sexually transmitted infections. It aimed to assess what the students already knew and what they did not know about STIs. Specifically, it sought to answer the following problems: 1.What is the profile of respondents in terms of: A.) Age, B.) Gender, C.) Civil Status, D.) Religion, and E.) Year Level? 2. What is the knowledge level of the respondents with regards to sexually transmitted infection (STI) specifically on: A.) Etiology, B.) Transmission, C.) Prevention of infection, D.) Medical Management, E.) Nursing Interventions? 3. What factors affect the knowledge level of respondents on STI? 4. What are the measures that may be proposed to enhance the knowledge of the respondents on STI?

Based on the data, the following findings were obtained: 1.) As to the demographic profile on age, there were 85 or 65.89% student nurses' age ranged from 16-19 while on the other hand, there were 2 or 1.55% of them were aged 28-31. On gender, student nurses were comprised of 99 or 76.74% of females and 30 Or 23.26% males. On religion, most of the student nurses with a frequency of 113 and a percentage of 87.60 were Roman Catholics while least of them with a frequency of 1 and a percentage of 0.78 were Islam, Iglesia ni Cristo and Baptist. On year level, there were 20 or 15.50% respondents in second year, 42 or 32.56% in third year and 67 or 51.94% in fourth year. 2.) Nursing students from levels 2, 3 and 4 had different knowledge level on the etiology, transmission, prevention, medical management and nursing intervention. There were 94.57% student nurses who knew that herpes simplex was one of the causes that could be found in STIs. They also knew, with a percentage of 89.92%, that gonorrhoea, caused by Neisseria gonorrhea, was a sexually transmitted disease involving infection of the columnar and transitional epithelium. There were about 85.27% of student nurses who knew that cold sore or fever blister was an infection of the face or mouth caused by herpes simplex. On the other hand, 60.47% of student nurses did not know that Neisseria gonorrhea could be killed by ordinary disinfectant. In addition, there were some of them with a percentage of 31.78 did not know that the etiologic agent of HIV was HTLV-3 or retrovirus. Lastly, there were 30.23% student nurses who did not know that Treponema pallidum was the causative agent of syphilis. 2.1.) Sexually transmitted infection can be transmitted through different means. Most of the students with a percentage of 96.12 knew that AIDS could be transmitted through blood transfusion and as well as transpiacental. In addition, 95.35% of them knew that having sexual activity from same gender that had one of the said STIs could increase the risk of transmission. With the same percentage, they also knew that fluids and secretions from an infected partner could facilitate transmission of infection to another partner. There were 90.70% of student nurses who knew that sexual contact included more than just sexual intercourse (vaginal and anal). On the contrary, there were 41.09% of student nurses who did not know that kissing had lesser risk in acquiring STI. Some of them, with a percentage of 22.48%, did not know that a person infected orally with herpes simplex could transmit the infection by kissing and sharing utensils. Students from levels 2, 3 and 4 with a percentage of 21.71% did not know that Gonorrhea is can be contracted sexually and from public or shared toilet seats.2.2.) Sexually transmitted infection can be prevented in different ways. Most of the student nurses with a percentage of 98.45 knew that STI could be prevented. With a percentage of 96.12%, they knew that regular check-up could be a helpful way in preventing a person from acquiring such infection and their complications. In addition, they also knew that information dissemination on the said infection was one way of preventing it. Despite the different ways to teach preventions to the student nurses, they still had some concepts about prevention that they did not know. Some of the student nurses, with a percentage of 49.61 did not know that using a spermicide could help prevent STI. There were 46.51% of who did not know that sexual abstinence until marriage was the only 100% effective means of STI prevention. Lastly, 24.03% of the student nurses did not know that abstinence was the best way to prevent STI. 2.3.)There were different medical managements which could be used to diagnose STIs. Majority of the student nurses with a percentage of 97.67 knew that diagnostic tests were more useful for assessing prevalence when the test results were specific for active infection. This was followed by 93.80% of the student nurses who knew that other STIs require a blood test or sample of any unusual fluid (such as abnormal discharge from vagina or the penis for gonorrhea or Chlamydia) to be analyzed in a lab to help establish a diagnosis. There were 86.82% of student nurses who knew that some STIs, such as genital herpes and HIV (which leads to AIDS) could not be cured and could only be controlled with medication. There were some concepts about medical management that student nurses did not know. There were about 44.96% of student nurses who did not know that inoculation of specimen on Thayer-Martin medium was the diagnostic exam for females infected with gonorrhea. In addition to this, there were 25.58% of student nurses who did not know that the drugs of choice for pregnant women infected with gonorrhea were ceftriaxone plus erythromycin. About 24.03% of them did not know that males infected with gonorrhea had a different diagnostic exam compared to females, which was gram-staining. 2.4.) Nursing interventions were also important in treating STIs. One of the nursing interventions that 90.70% of the student nurses knew was encouraging vaccination against STI that could be done by every health care personnel. There were also 89.92% of student nurses who knew that education and counselling of persons' at risk on ways to avoid STIs through changes in sexual behaviours was one of the five major categories of the prevention and control of the infection. There were also 88.37% of the student nurses who knew that health education an effective way of imparting knowledge regarding the risk and prevention of STI. Same percentage of student nurses knew that infected persons need to learn the mode of transmission, complication and the risk for other STIs. Some of them, with a percentage of 38.76 knew that advising the infected person to keep his or her infection secret and not to report to public health department could not help the existing problem. On the contrary, few of them, with a percentage of 18.60 did not know that one of the essential nursing interventions for STI like herpes simplex was hand washing.

There were also 16.28% of student nurses who did not know that advising the infected person to do abstinence from sexual intercourse until treatment has been completed could be a clinical intervention. 3.) Factors affecting knowledge level of student nurses from level 2, 3 and 4 were ranked and from the greatest to least factor that could affect the level of understanding of the students regarding STI. The primary factor which most of the students believed to affect knowledge level on STI was lack of knowledge regarding on the seriousness of the health threat of STI. Second on the rank were influences of media like television and interne and peer influences. This was followed by lack of interest and curiousness on the topic since they never have experienced sexual intercourse and never been sexually active was one of the factors. Next was a parental guidance and culture influence. Then, the sixth factor was not having enough time to take the topic/issue seriously due to other reasons. Ranked seventh was educational background. Last in the rank was the subject was never been discussed in the lecture.

Proposed Measures

Based on observations and findings, proposed measures to solve the existing problems were identified and enumerated.
1. Make pamphlets, flyers or brochures regarding STIs and distribute them to fellow student nurses.
2. Create a group or organization in the college which will promote programs against STIs and which will provide information or counselling about it.
3. Impart to the clinical instructors the insufficiencies on the knowledge of the students on STIs.
4. Conduct a mini seminar and an open-forum and make the student nurses as the primary participants.
5. Share the findings of the study to fellow student nurses, for them to become aware and to elicit their cooperation to solve the identified problems.
6. Include in the bulletin board of the college trivia about STIs.
7. Make slogan on promoting its prevention.