Psychosocial factors and prevention of HIV/AIDS related risky sexual behaviors among college students

Abstract

<p>Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy, depression, spiritual well-being, and risky sexual behaviors among college students in the United States, to examine the relationships between these variables, and to test whether HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy, depression, spiritual well-being significantly predict the college students&rsquo; risky sexual behaviors. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a convenience sampling method to recruit college students who were 18 to 24 years old and enrolled in undergraduate programs at a university in USA. Bandura&rsquo;s social cognitive theory and the revised Pender&rsquo;s health promotion model were used to guide this study. Several valid and reliable, self-administered, anonymous questionnaires were used to collect data for this study: The HIV/AIDS-Prevention Self-efficacy Scale, The Center for Epidemiological Studies&ndash;Depression Scale (CES-D) , Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB), The Safe Sex Behavior Questionnaire (SSBQ), The HIV-KQ-18, and the Psychosocial Demographic Data Sheet. Findings: A total of 437 college students participated in this study. This study revealed that a higher score of spiritual well-being was significantly correlated with less depressive symptoms, higher HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy, and higher HIV knowledge. Participants who reported less depressive symptoms had higher HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy. HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy and having history of using drugs were significant predictors of college students&rsquo; risky sexual behaviors. Recommendations: Future interventions aim at preventing drug use as well as increasing HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy may aid on our efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS related risky sexual behaviors among college students.</p>