HOW THE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF NIS OBTAIN INFORMATION AND ESTIMATE THEIR KNOWLEDGE ON HIV/AIDS

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of some significant elements in the process of spreading information about HIV/AIDS on the subjective assessment of students' own knowledge about HIV/AIDS. This survey included 519 students of the University of Nis. The analysis of data included standard procedures of descriptive and analytical statistical methodology. χ2 test, Pearson test, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, univariate and multivariate regression analysis were used in comparison of frequencies. The data were processed in the programs Microsoft Excel and SSPS 10.0. Among the students who rated their knowledge as excellent, 83.4% of them received information about HIV/AIDS for more than once during the last year. 55.6% of the students who assessed their knowledge as insufficient received the information only several times. In the process of evaluation of students' own knowledge about HIV/AIDS depending on the frequency of information there is a statistically significant difference in distribution of responses (Kruskal- Wallis Test χ2= 20.556 p <0,001). The gender of the students, people who were the most common source of the information and the ways of obtaining information did not have a significant influence on the subjective assessment of students' knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The greatest impact on the subjective assessment of students' knowledge about HIV/AIDS has two categories: belonging to the particular group of the faculty and frequency of obtaining information.