LEARN Lao PDR - Master thesis: Knowledge of safe sex and STIs among students at Vientiane High School, Vientiane Capital, 2019

Knowledge of safe sex and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is of vital importance for adolescents because it serves as a protective factor helping to prevent unsafe sex, STIs and teenage pregnancies. Adolescents are at a high risk of a number of negative health consequences associated with early and unsafe sexual activities, including STIs, unintended pregnancies and teenage pregnancies. Thus, knowledge of safe sex and STIs is necessary for adolescents to reduce their risky sexual behaviors and their negative consequences. The aim of this study is to describe the knowledge of safe sex and STIs among high school students at Vientiane High School, Vientiane Capital, and Lao PDR and to identify related factors associated with acquiring knowledge of safe sex and STIs among high school students.

The design of this study was analytical cross-sectional. This study was conducted in Vientiane High School from January to February 2019. Questionnaires were completed by 337 respondents selected by stratified random sampling. A standardized self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from respondents. The data collected was entered and analyzed by the EpiData and Stata 13.0 programmes. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to determine the factors associated with knowledge of safe sex and STIs.

The main results: Among 337 respondents, the results showed nearly half of the participants (49.5%) had a good knowledge of safe sex and 51.9% of respondents had a good knowledge of STIs. The results also found some factors related significantly to knowledge of safe sex including students who lived with other people (AOR=2.5, 95%CI=1.1-5.3), students who had studied about family planning (AOR=1.7, 95%CI=1-2.9) and students whose religious beliefs were acceptable to the use of birth control. These factors were the main determinants that increased the knowledge of safe sex (AOR=1.7, 95%CI=1-2.9,). In addition, the factors positively associated with knowledge of STIs consisted of students who studied in a higher grade, namely 12th year (AOR=0.3, 95%CI=0.1-0.6,), students who had studied about family planning (AOR=1.8, 95%CI=1.0-3.1,) and students who had studied about STIs including HIV/AIDS (AOR=5.1, 95%CI=1.9-13.5). They were associated significantly with a more comprehensive knowledge of safe sex and STIs (P-value<0.05).

In this study, most of the participants were aware of safe sex and STIs. However, the knowledge of adolescents was inadequate. Barely half of the adolescents had a good knowledge of safe sex while half of the students had a good knowledge on STIs. The associated factors identified with knowledge of safe sex and STIs were studying family planning and STIs topics in class, and practicing a religion that was acceptable to the use of birth control. These clearly helped to improve the knowledge of safe sex and STIs.

There is essential requirement to have a comprehensive sexual education, particularly by adding more subjects content for safe sex and STIs to each grade in schools. More content knowledge about family planning and STIs/AIDs needs to be added to support the awareness of adolescents in order to protect them. Besides this, religions should be more progressive and approve the use of birth control when necessary.