Knowledge, attitude andpractice towards voluntary Hiv counselling and testing services among high School adolescentstudents in mettu town, oromia Regional state

Abstract

Background: Voluntary HIV counseling and Testing (VCT) is a process by which an individual undergoes counseling to enable informed about HIV status.This Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is a corner stone for successfulimplementation of prevention, care and support services among HIV negative and positiveindividuals. VCT is also perceived to be an effective strategy in risk reduction among sexually active young people. However, despite the benefits of VCT and the risks of HIV infection they are faced with, earlier studies indicate limited VCT utilization by adolescents. It is therefore important to understand the factors that influenceadolescentsdecision to test for HIV in order to inform the design of strategies to increase VCT utilization among this population category. Objectives:The purpose of the study is to assess adolescent students‟ knowledge and attitudes towards voluntary counseling and HIV testing services Methods:-A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 9th -11th March,2015 among 559 adolescent students making 99.6% response rate inMettu town high schools, Oromia regional state, using self- administered structured questionnaires.Data was enteredusing Epi-Data version 3.1 andthen analyzed using SPSSversion 16.software. Binary and multi variable logistic regression done and the results were reported using OR and P. value, frequency tables, and chart. Result:The findings revealed that 79.80% of students were knowledgeable about VCT services; 63.3% had favorable attitude towards VCT and 25.90% utilized the services and suggested that VCT services should be located in schools and youth clubs for better access by adolescents. Mass media were the primary sources of information cited by the participants.Multi variable logistic regression analysis with AOR showed significant association of sex, male students had utilized VHCT service about 1.80 times (1.17, 2.78) than female students. And also grade ten students about 1.98 times (1.29,3.04), knowledgeable students about 3.45 times (1.67,7.11), high HIV infection risk perceived students about 1.85 times (1.16,2.94) and students with neardistance of VCT center to their vicinity about 3.78 times (2.17,6.56) utilized VCT service than those grade nine, not knowledgeable, low HIV infection risk perceived and distant VCT center students respectively at 95% CI and P. value <0.05. Conclusion & Recommendation:Even though considerable number of the students were knowledgeable about VCT service, its utilization was very low. Voluntary counseling and testing utilization was influenced by sex, grade level, knowledge of VCT, personal risk perception and distance of VCT centre .The findings of the study clearly indicated a need for more action to increase voluntary HIV counseling and testing services utilization ofadolescent students