Construction and validation of the Scale Sources of Information about AIDS (SSIA)

OBJECTIVE: To characterize sources of information students of higher education turn to for clarification about AIDS. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional, non-experimental research, with the features of descriptive, correlational and explanatory studies. The data collection protocol includes personal and academic data and the sources of information about AIDS scale. PARTICIPANTS: 2002 students participated, 60.7% girls (X = 21.76; years ± 4.43 SD), of the first and last years of higher education in the North and Centre of Portugal. RESULTS: Students rely mainly on reading informational materials for information about AIDS. Approximately 37% have good information on AIDS with young people up to the age of 25 and attending courses in field of health having higher scores. CONCLUSIONS: Changes are needed in health education models in the area of HIV/AIDS, since these are not showing a satisfactory level of efficiency. On the other hand, it is important to motivate young people to change their behaviours. Although many young people have knowledge, they do not change their risk behaviours.