Name: Lai Kei FungClass: Pre-U (S) S2

Year: 2011 Supervisor: Pn Nidhia

Statement of Problem

December 2008 statistics from the Ministry of Health reveal that 27% of new infections are amongst teens and youth aged between 13 to 29 years old.

Objectives of the Study

1) To investigate the extent of knowledge of Pre U Senior students on HIV/AIDS.

2) To find out whether Pre U Senior students are capable of defending themselves from HIV/AIDS.

3) To determine whether the school authorities need to carry out any activities to improve Pre-U students’ knowledge on HIV/AIDS.

Research questions

1) How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students on the matter of HIV/AIDS?2) How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students on the matter of HIV/AIDS according to their gender?3) How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students on the matter of HIV/AIDS according to their streams?4) Are the Pre-U students capable of protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS?5) Do the Pre-U students think that they are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and why?6) From which sources did the Pre-U students obtain the knowledge of HIV/AIDS?

Limitations of the Study

1) This research is done solely on Pre U Senior students of SMK SS 17, Subang Jaya.

2) The research is done mostly by quantitative method.

Previous Research on HIV/AIDS:-1) A. Shrotri, 2002. The research was meant to determine the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS knowledge of pregnant women in Pune, India. It was found that the general knowledge of HIV/AIDS to be high in this population.2) Moses O. Abiodun, 2007. The research was to evaluate the awareness and knowledge of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and its prevention among pregnant women in the country Nigeria. The findings were that all the respondents were aware of HIV/AIDS but the knowledge about mother-to-child transmission was inadequate.

3) Emma Sandgren, 2008. The research was to evaluate the knowledge, risk behaviour and attitudes to voluntary counselling and testing concerning HIV/AIDS among pregnant women in Semey, Kazakhstan. The results suggest that the pregnant women in Semey have poor knowledge about specific mother-to-child HIV transmission.

4) Marit Hansson, 2008. The research was to evaluate the knowledge concerning routes of transmission and means of protection against HIV/AIDS among 600 students in Semey, Kazakhstan. Their results suggest that among the students in Semey, knowledge concerning routes of transmission and means of protection is good.

Respondents50 Pre-U Senior students of SMK SS17.

InstrumentsA detailed questionnaire consisting 11 questions was used.All were quantitative except question 10 which was a combination of both quantitative and qualitative.

Analysis of Data 1) Question 1 to 9 determine how knowledgeable the Pre-U students on the matter of HIV/AIDS.

Categories Scores (For questions 1 to 9)

Knowledgeable 8 to 9

Moderate knowledge 5 to 7

Poor knowledge 0 to 4

2) Questions 5 to 9 determine whether the Pre-U students were capable of protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS.

Categories Scores (For questions 5 to 9)

More capable 4 to 5

Moderately capable 2 to 3

Less capable 0 to 1

3) Question 10 determine whether the Pre-U students think that they were vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and the reasons for such phenomena to occur.

4) Question 11 determine which sources the Pre-U students obtained the knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

Research Question 1: How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students

on the matter of HIV/AIDS?

Research Question 2: How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students on the matter of

HIV/AIDS according to their gender?

Research Question 3: How knowledgeable are the Pre-U students on the matter of HIV/AIDS according

to their streams?

Research Question 4: Are the Pre-U students capable of protecting

themselves from HIV/AIDS?

Research Question 5: Do the Pre-U students think that they are vulnerable

to HIV/AIDS and why?

Qualitative part:-

Not all the respondents gave appropriate answers and some of them even misinterpreted the question. 19 respondents gave improper answers for the question and hence the answers were ignored.

Accepted answers:-For those who answered no: 1) Most of the respondents answered that they will carry out healthy lifestyles.2) Some answered that they are knowledgeable in the matter of HIV/AIDS.

For those who answered yes: 1) Most of the respondents answered that everyone have risks of getting infected by HIV through misfortunes or accidents.2) A minority of them answered that they may be infected due to unable to control their emotion.

Research Question 6: From which sources did the Pre-U students obtain

the knowledge of HIV/AIDS?

Most of the respondents had moderate knowledge on HIV/AIDS while the categories good knowledge and poor knowledge had similar share.

Most of the respondents fell into the category with moderately capability of protecting themselves from HIV infection.

A whopping 68.75% of the respondents answered that they were not vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection even though their capability of protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS infection were moderately inadequate.

The results of this study indicate that the school authorities need to educate the students on HIV/AIDS and its preventive methods as the results show that in general most students only have moderate knowledge and capability in protecting themselves.