Perceptions and HIV/AIDS preventive behaviors among Uighur students in China

The purposes of this cross-sectional study were to determine the relationship between general characteristics, perceptions on HIV/AIDS, risk behaviors and condom use to prevent HIV infection among Uighur students. Data were collected among 375 Uighur college students in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, using self-administered questionnaires. Health Belief Model was used to frame the respondents’ perceptions. Results showed that 16.6 % of the respondents had sexual experience and only 48.4 % of whom regularly used condom when having sex in the past six months. It was found that students’ condom use was significantly associated with year of study, number of sex partners, perceived severity of HIV/AIDS, and perceived benefits of condom use (p<0.05). Evidently, though not significantly, the fourth and fifth year students were be aware that they were susceptible to HIV/AIDS than the first to third year students, it is recommended that raising students’ perceived susceptibility to and the severity of HIV/AIDS and the benefits of using condom are crucial factor to motivate them to regularly use condom to prevent HIV/AIDS.