Relationships between attitudes toward sexuality, sexual behaviors, and contraceptive practices among Chinese medical and nursing undergraduates

Correlates of condom use among male university students from eastern China who engage in casual sex

Consistent condom use with casual partners is critical for preventing the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among male university students. This study aimed to determine the level of consistent condom use and explore the correlates of condom use consistency in male university students in eastern China. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in 13 universities in Zhejiang Province, which involved the recruitment of 31,674 students by stratified random sampling. Among them, 545 male students who engaged in casual sex in the year prior to this study were included. Adjusted and unadjusted logistic regression models were used to examine the correlates associated with consistent condom use. Among the 545 male university students, only 205 (37.6%) consistently used condoms in the previous year. The following correlates were associated with higher rates of consistent condom use: 1) Knowledge, specifically, the number of correct answers to "HIV infection can be determined by appearance" (AOR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.21-3.49); 2) never finding casual partners on the internet during the past over the prior year (AOR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.40-0.99); 3) never drinking alcohol before casual sex during the last over the prior year (AOR: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.20-0.46); 4) never engaging in commercial sex (AOR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.34-0.96); and 5) high condom self-efficacy score (AOR: 2.55; 95% CI: 1.44-4.49). The study found a low level of consistent condom use among male university students. Promoting condom self-efficacy, reducing web-based casual sex, drinking before sex, and commercial sex are essential to improving the level of consistent condom use among male university students to reduce the transmission of HIV.

Mediating effects of ageism and knowledge on the relationship between contact with older adults and attitudes toward older adults' sexuality among nursing students

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals often ignore sexuality in aging and avoid discussing related topics, especially in China. Nursing students, as future professionals, can address the sexuality of older adults encountered in clinical practice by establishing positive attitudes toward aging sexuality. Previous studies have demonstrated that contact has positive impacts on nursing students' attitudes toward aging sexuality. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying this relationship between contact and attitudes.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the mediating effects of ageism and knowledge on the relationship between contact and nursing students' attitudes toward aging sexuality.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study.

SETTINGS

The study was conducted at a nursing school in Hefei city, China.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

614 nursing students completed online-administered questionnaires measuring the level of contact with older adults, ageism, knowledge, and attitudes toward aging sexuality. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS.

RESULTS

The mean scores for knowledge and attitudes toward aging sexuality were 85.70 (SD = 16.39) and 104.91 (SD = 14.88), respectively. Overall, our findings confirmed that these hypotheses were accepted. Ageism (β = -0.079, P = 0.007) and knowledge (β = -0.070, P < 0.001) mediated the relationship between contact and attitude.

CONCLUSION

Given the mediating role of ageism and knowledge in the relationship between contact and attitude, reducing ageism and enhancing knowledge are vital to changing students' attitudes, including integrating ageism and aging sexuality knowledge learning into the nursing curriculum and creating opportunities for contact with older adults. The frequency and quality of contact between nursing students and older adults can be improved by rationalizing the internship duration, tasks, and assessment objectives of placements on geriatric wards and by the role of clinical faculty role models in cultivating positive attitudes toward aging sexuality.

Connaissances, attitudes et pratiques des étudiants en médecine en matière de sexualité

La sexualité est un aspect central de la personne humaine qui, devant des problèmes sexuels, va fréquemment se tourner vers une source qu'elle considère compétente et bien informée, son médecin. Les objectifs de notre étude étaient d’évaluer les connaissances, les attitudes et les pratiques des étudiants en médecine en termes de sexualité et d’identifier les principaux déterminants du manque de connaissances basiques à ce sujet. Notre étude était descriptive et analytique, menée auprès des étudiants à la faculté de médecine de Sfax (Tunisie). Le questionnaire, rempli individuellement et de manière anonyme par chaque étudiant, recueillait les données sociodémographiques, les connaissances en matière de sexualité ainsi que leurs sources, les attitudes adoptées par les étudiants vis-à-vis de la sexualité et les pratiques sexuelles. La note totale moyenne relative aux questions de sexologie était de 11,05/20. Les facteurs corrélés à un score moyen élevé aux questions de sexologie étaient le sexe masculin (p=0,003), le statut de marié (p=0,012), le niveau socio-économique élevé (p=0,02), les livres comme source d’informations (p=0,041) et la présence de pratiques sexuelles (p<0,001). Ces pratiques étaient toutes significativement plus fréquentes chez les étudiants de sexe masculin (p<0,001). Des lacunes dans les connaissances en matière de sexualité existent chez les étudiants en médecine, du moins dans certains de ses aspects. Un programme d'enseignement complet et uniforme sur la sexualité humaine, surtout dans ses aspects physiologiques, peut sensiblement améliorer la capacité des futurs médecins à fournir des soins optimaux à leurs patients.

Sexual Health in Undergraduate Medical Education: Existing and Future Needs and Platforms

INTRODUCTION

This article explores the evolution and current delivery of undergraduate medical education in human sexuality.

AIM

To make recommendations regarding future educational needs, principles of curricular development, and how the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) should address the need to enhance and promote human sexuality education around the world.

METHODS

The existing literature was reviewed for sexuality education, curriculum development, learning strategies, educational formats, evaluation of programs, evaluation of students, and faculty development.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The prevailing theme of most publications in this vein is that sexuality education in undergraduate medical education is currently not adequate to prepare students for future practice.

RESULTS

We identified components of the principles of attitudes, knowledge, and skills that should be contained in a comprehensive curriculum for undergraduate medical education in human sexuality. Management of sexual dysfunction; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health care; sexuality across genders and lifespan; understanding of non-normative sexual practices; sexually transmitted infections and HIV, contraception; abortion; sexual coercion and violence; and legal aspects were identified as topics meriting particular attention.

CONCLUSION

Curricula should be integrated throughout medical school and based on principles of adult learning. Methods of teaching should be multimodal and evaluations of student performance are critical. To realize much of what needs to be done, faculty development is critical. Thus, the ISSM can play a key role in the provision and dissemination of learning opportunities and materials, it can promote educational programs around the world, and it can articulate a universal curriculum with modules that can be adopted. The ISSM can create chapters, review documents, slide decks, small group and roleplay topics, and video-recorded materials and make all this material easily available. An expert consensus conference would be needed to realize these recommendations and fulfill them.