Adolescents' Attitudes towards People with HIV/AIDS

The possibility of interacting with an HIV-infected person has increased. This study is aimed at determining the adolescents’ attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS and compares their attitudes when they are grouped according to gender and type of school. The descriptive research design utilizing the quantitative technique was used. This study was conducted in four (4) secondary schools of Cagayan de Oro City. A total of 675 fourth year high school students were randomly chosen as the respondents. A standardized questionnaire by Buseh (2001) was used in the gathering of data. The measures of central tendency focused on weighted mean were used in the analysis of data. The positive attitude that children with HIV/AIDS should not be curtailed of their right to go to school reflected the fact that the respondents consider the less probability of school children to engage in sex which is one of the modes of HIV/AIDS transmission. Meanwhile, the attitude that people entering and leaving one country to another should be tested for the AIDS virus implied that the respondents are aware that international travellers could have a greater probability of being contaminated with HIV virus. A very poor attitude was that the respondents disagree that people with AIDS shall be allowed to work as teachers and strongly disagree to eat in a public eating place even if one of the people working there had the AIDS virus. These findings persisted even when the adolescents were grouped according to gender and type of school. In conclusion, the adolescents manifested both positive and negative attitude towards people with HIV/AIDS. It is recommended that an annual school activity on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign about awareness and attitude towards HIV/AIDS be conducted.