Evaluation of the Awareness of Marriage Candidates about AIDS in Babol

Introduction & AIDS is a global infectious disease which is spreading in most countries, including Iran. The awareness of society has an important role in preventing this disease. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness of volunteered couples about AIDS in Babol. This cross-sectional study was conducted in November and December 2013 in Babol. Research population and samples were selected in census from all the young couples referred to Premarital training centers. The tool for data collection was a questionnaire including 6 questions about demographic variables with 9 questions about AIDS awareness which its validity an reliability was confirmed. Data classified and analyzed in SPSS software into three levels of awareness: good (with at least 7 correct answers), medium (with 6-4 correct answers) and poor (less than 4 correct answers). from 732 volunteers with a mean age of 24.2±5.7 years, 396 persons were (54%) women and 336 (46%) were male. Most of them (301 people or 41.1 percent) had an academic degree. Awareness of 142 volunteers (19.4%) about AIDS was poor, 267 (36.5%) medium and 323 (44.1%) was good. The most useful sources of information (44.1%) were Radio and Television. There was a significant relationship between academic degree, age and knowledge level (r= -0.337 & p=001), (r= -0.143 & p=001). There was a significant relationship between gender, location, occupation and level of awareness (p=001). This study showed that still more than half of young men and women do not know enough about AIDS, so continuing education programs at the community level is essential.