Research on the Necessity of AIDS Intervention for College Students Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Despite abundant research on AIDS prevention and intervention, many residual factors influence the actual impact of the intervention at a population level. Misconceptions held by subjects lead to patterns of behavior, which do not reflect levels of cognition. METHODS: Cognition and behavioral patterns relating to HIV were investigated without intervention in freshmen before and after a two-year study period. A total of 461 freshmen studying at the university in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, were enrolled in September 2019. Data management and analysis were performed by SPSS 25.0 software. RESULTS: Throughout the two years' study, no significant changes in the cognitive level regarding AIDS were found while the frequency of sexual behavior increased significantly. A trend of inconsistency between cognition and behavior was identified. CONCLUSION: During a two-year period without intervention, it was found that the sexual behavior of university students gradually increased, perceptions regarding AIDS-related subjects were incomplete and awareness of HIV infection risk was still weak. A phenomenon described as the separation of knowledge from behavior was detected. Misconceptions that influenced behavioral patterns were identified as critical factors. Therefore, we propose that cognitive behavioral therapy may change the actual impact of AIDS prevention interventions.