Relationship between Risk Perception of HIV/AIDS and Sexual Behaviours among Senior High School Students in the Tema Metropolis

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is still a big public health issues as adolescents today have not known a world without AIDS. The school environment offers great opportunity for HIV high risk behaviours. Despite a great awareness of the dangers of the disease and the abundance of knowledge, young people continue to engage in behaviours that place them at risk of contracting the disease. The main objective of the study is to determine the relationship between HIV risk perception and sexual behaviours among senior high school students in the Tema Metropolis. Using a quantitative approach, a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used in soliciting responses about the knowledge, risk perception, self-efficacy and sexual behaviours from 220 senior high school students. The data collected was processed using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 16.0). Univariate analysis was used to determine the Correlations between perceived of risk of HIV/AIDS other variables sexual behaviours. Results from the study show that male students generally have high self-efficacy regarding the practice of safe sex, a relationship also exists between knowledge and risk perception, knowledge and self-efficacy and self-efficacy and reported sexual behaviour. Findings of the research call for innovative/creative ways to empower young people to take control of their lives by making the right decisions concerning their sexual behaviour. Parents are also encouraged to openly discuss HIV and sexual related matters with their children. And finally, including HIV education into the academic curriculum for children to have protective information and equipped with the necessary skills before they become sexually active.