'Knowledge' and 'attitude' of pre-service teachers in South Australia towards sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and other blood-borne viruses (BBVs).

Abstract

The rate of sexually transmissible infections and other blood-borne viruses is high in South Australia. Young people are prone to contracting these diseases who rely on school programs for their health-related behaviours. Health-related behaviours, specifically knowledge and attitudes, can successfully disseminate from teachers to students. Hence, the present study explored the knowledge and attitudes of pre-service teachers in South Australia towards these diseases besides evoking perspectives towards disease-related issues, the role of an effective education thereof, and teacher education in addressing sexual health. The samples (N = 320) comprised of pre-service teachers enrolled in teacher education courses at higher educational institutions in the State. Data collection from the samples took the form of a cross-sectional survey, both at the pilot and the main stages of study. The pilot study was essential to establishing the validity and reliability aspects of the knowledge and attitude scales of the developed questionnaire, which, however, was also measured at the main stage of analysis. A Rasch item analysis using the Quest Version 2.1 software established evidence of a construct validity and an acceptable reliability of both the scales at either stages of study. Subsequent data analysis pertaining to the knowledge and attitudes largely depended on the Rasch estimates being non-parametric, and therefore, the application of non-parametric statistics using the SPSS Version 18.0 software. The open-ended perspectives with 272 valid responses, however, underwent a qualitative thematic analysis. The quantitative analysis revealed a poor level of knowledge (mean score of 18.57 out of a possible 45) and a favourable attitude (mean score of 44.45 out of a possible 51) of South Australian pre-service teachers towards the diseases, with a low to moderate positive relationship between the knowledge and attitude attributes (rs = .196, p < 0.01) [s subscript]. School, peers, and mass media campaigns constituted the major sources of information related to the diseases. There were no significant differences of either the knowledge or the attitude scores across the demographic variables gender, highest educational level, subject stream, and undertaking the related curriculum. However, attitude scores varied across age, with knowledge revealing no significant difference as earlier. The qualitative analysis revealed that the majority of pre-service teachers perceived an information gap and an attitude and behaviour of individuals as primarily responsible for a high disease rate in the State and young people contracting these, respectively. The majority perceived that the related curriculum does not address STI-related issues and that teachers are primarily responsible for the lack of a comprehensive sex education in the State. The majority, however, was largely supportive towards the call for a compulsory sex education. Further, reflecting that they themselves lack adequate knowledge on these diseases, pre-service teachers suggested the introduction of sexual health as a core topic in teacher education. The findings have implications for educators, policy makers, key stakeholders in the field of sexual health education, and the school and the community to raise awareness of the many areas that adolescents and young adults experience problems in, and particularly related to sexual health.