Perception of sexual behavior and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases in patients treated at a Peruvian public hospital
Keywords:
sexual behavior; sexual health; sexually transmitted diseasesAbstract
Introduction: Perceptions of sexual behaviors indicate how people interpret and cope with the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and are associated with the adoption of preventive practices based on their level of knowledge.
Objective: To evaluate the association between perceptions of sexual behaviors and knowledge of STIs in patients treated at a Peruvian public hospital.
Methods: A cross-sectional, observational, analytical study was conducted with 150 women treated at a Peruvian public hospital, selected by simple random sampling from an official list. The instruments used to measure perceptions of sexual behavior and knowledge of STIs underwent psychometric evaluation for validity and reliability. Spearman's rho test, with a 95% confidence level, established a significant association between perceptions of sexual behaviors and knowledge of STIs.
Results: 46.7% of participants presented a medium level of perception of sexual behavior, and 42.7% presented a high level of knowledge of STIs. Perceptions of sexual behavior were strongly and significantly related to general knowledge, the use of condoms as a protective method, transmission routes and prevention of the human immunodeficiency virus, and other sexually transmitted infections.
Conclusions: A very strong positive association between perceptions of sexual behavior and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections indicates that greater knowledge leads to a more favorable and conscious perception of one's own sexual behaviors.
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References
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