FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH UPTAKE OF VOLUNTARY HIV TESTING AND COUNSELING SERVICES AMONG NURSING STUDENTS AT BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Background

HIV voluntary counseling and testing(VCT)services are a key route to the prevention and care of HIV/AIDS. The objective was to assess the uptake and factors associated with HIV voluntary testing and counseling among university students at Bishop Stuart University.

 Methodology

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among Nursing undergraduate students from the faculty of health sciences at Bishop Stuart University with a sample size of 139.

 Results

A total of 139 students participated in this study 72(51.8%) male and 67 (48.2%) female. Out of these, 58(41.7%) were in the age group of 18-23. The majority of participants showed knowledge about HIV transmission and VCT. Overall the uptake of VCT was high at (94.2%)

The majority of the participants had a nearby place for HIVCT 136(97.8%), knew about the place through health workers 97(69.8%), took <5km from home to the nearest HIV testing site 93(66.9), waited for <1hour at health facility 97(69.8%) and did not pay for HIVCT 88(63.3%). This study results revealed a significant association between age X²(df=4) =7.608, p-value = 0.017, and X²(df=3) =3.345, P value = 0.034 with having done HIV VCT. This study revealed no significant relationship between the participants’ knowledge and HIV.

 Conclusion

The study showed high knowledge of VCT services, and the uptake of VCT among nursing students was found to be high. Factors that were found to be significant in the uptake of HIV VCT included knowing the place of HIV VCT, quality of services (time taken at the facility), Age, and engagement in sexual relationships.

Recommendation

More emphasis also should be put on support and care received after knowing the test results to be communicated as it helps motivate more young people towards VCT uptake.