Risk factors for cardiovascular disease knowledge and beliefs of the Barbadian population - abstract

A knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in relation to cardioascular disease in Barbados was carried out by a questionaire administered to a 0.2 per cent representative sample of the Barbadian population. A section of the questionaire dealt with knowledge and beliefs of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. Analysis of the responses showed that knowledge of the part played by smoking, obesity, exercise, and worry in the development of cardiovascular disease was good, with between 81 and 92 percent being aware of these. Many responders were also aware of diabetes (62 percent), regular taking of aspirin (65 percent) and eating fish (70 percent) and their relationship to heart disease, its development or prevention. At a personal level, less than half of the respondents thought their lifestyle could prevent getting a heart attack (41 percent), a stroke (39.5 percent), or diabetes mellitus (39.7 percent). As a group, the respondents claimed that they got regular exercise. However, the number of those claiming this was smaller in the age group 35 - 44 years - 25 per cent. The results show the success of work done in public health education, and identify areas such as transforming knowledge into lifestyle change, where success must be achieved (AU)

An AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices survey among schoolchildren in Barbados

A knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices (KABP) survey was performed among Barbadian secondary school children 11-16 years old in January 1990. The survey sought to assess the children's knowledge of AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission; their attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS; their sexual practices; and changes needed in education programs seeking to reduce childhood HIV transmission. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used. The survey sample was derived by selecting every eleventh student on the rosters of all the secondary schools in Barbados. All of the survey repondents completed the questionnaire on the same day, having been assembled examination-style for that purpose. The results showed high levels of correct knowledge about the principal routes of HIV transmission. However, a considerable portion of the respondents harboured incorrect beliefs regarding mosquito transmission and dangers to blood doners, and many showed uncertainty or incorrect knowledge regarding possible HIV transmission by biting, spitting, or use of public toilets. About a third of the children (51.4 percent of the boys and 18.7 percent of the girls) said they had experienced sexual intercourse, though only 20 percent reported being sexually active in the year preceding the survey. Three-quarters of the sexually experienced group said they knew how to use condoms, but only a third said there was any time when they used protection during sexual intercourse. Overall, the results indicate that education efforts prior to the survey had been effective, but that reinforcement of such efforts as well as their extension into the primary schools is unwarranted. Further research directed at helping these efforts to encourage more meaningful changes in sexual behavior is also needed (AU)

Knowledge and sources of knowledge about AIDS in Barbados - abstract

A knowledge, attitude and practices survey on AIDS was carried out in Barbados from December, 1989 to January, 1990 amongst a 9 percent sample of secondary school children aged 10-16 years, all health science students, a 5 percent sample of health care workers and a 1 percent household sample of the general population. Questionnaires used were pretested and entirely anonymous and, except for the general population who were interviewed, were self-administered. The results demonstrate that the media, television in particular, were the main source of respondents' information on AIDS. The National Advisory Committee on AIDS and physicians were the sources that respondents said that they would go to for specific information. Basic knowledge was good, for over 90 percent of respondents knew AIDS to be a fatal disease, and to be transmitted by sexual intercourse. Over 75 percent of respondents also knew that social contact, such as use of public toilets, and school attendance with AIDS patients were not likely to transmit the virus. Correct knowledge was poor on the issues of transmission by blood donations and caring for AIDS patients. The results will assist the National Education Programme, which is targeting specific groups with relevant education material, in seeking behaviour change in Barbadian society (AU)

Sexual attitudes and practices amongst schoolchildren aged 10-16 years in Barbados - abstract

A 9 percent systematic sample of all secondary schoolchildren in Barbados completed a self-administered questionnaire as part of a knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on knowledge about the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The questions pertaining to sexual attitudes and practices are presented in this paper. Basic knowledge was good with 92 percent knowing that AIDS is a deadly disease and 89.5 percent that it is sexually transmitted: 27.8 percent of children thought that they should have sex before marriage or settling with one partner, and 51.4 percent of the boys and 18.5 percent of the girls said they were sexually acitve; 66.1 percent of sexually active children reported two or more partners in their lives and this percentage fell to 25.5 percent in the past year. Over three-quarters of sexually active children said they knew how to use a condom, boys 320 (78 percent) claimed more skills than girls 127 ( 68 percent) in this area. Sexual attitudes and practices among schoolchildren are important in the AIDS epidemic as many AIDS patients are in the 19-26-year age range. With a 10-year asymptomatic period between initial infection and clinical manifestations, the virus was probably acquired in their years in school (AU)

Knowledge, attitude, belief and practices survey in relation to AIDS amongst children, ages 11-16 years old in Barbados

In the five years, up to the end of 1989, after the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in Barbados, 111 cases have been reported by the Ministry of Health. Of these cases 23 (20 per cent) have occurred in persons between the ages of 15-25 years of age. Given the accepted average period of 8-10 years between infection with the causative virus HIV and the onset of AIDS, it is clear that transmission of HIV is a significant problem amongst children of school age. In order to reduce the transmission of HIV amongst this group, it is necessary to target education efforts in a specific manner, which should be related to their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices as they pertain to the transmission of HIV. A study of these parameters was carried out using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. A random selection of students in all secondary schools in Barbados (ages 10-16 years) was carried out. Of the total of 1,856 to whom questionnaires were sent there were 1,791 respondents of whom 798 (44.6 per cent) were boys and 993 (55.4 per cent) were girls. The age profile and other demographic characters, validated the representative nature of the sampling. The level of knowledge about the transmission of AIDS was generally high with one or two areas of uncertainty. Thirty-three percent of the sample had been sexually active, with an average of 2.3 partners, however their sexual activity had been reduced in the last year with 20 per cent sexually active with an average of 1.2 partners. (AU)