Factors Affecting Resistance to Changing Sexual Behaviour Practices in The Fight Against HIV/AIDs Among Selected Secondary School Youth in Athi-River Zone, Machakos County, Kenya.

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Date

2015-04

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Daystar University, School of Applied Human Sciences

Abstract

There is a great need to slow down the spread of HIV/AIDS among youth in Kenya. Youths comprise a large percentage of the Kenyan population. As such, the future course of the epidemic will largely depend on the success of prevention strategies adopted by this group. Furthermore, establishing safe sexual behavior from puberty is the most effective long-term weapon against the continued spread of HIV/AIDS. Transmission rate of HIV/AIDS among youth in Kenya are still high despite information on HIV awareness. The purpose of this study was to find out factors affecting resistance to changing sexual behavior practices in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This study was done in Athi-River zone among high school youth. The students filled questionnaires to assess their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexual behavior. Student leaders also participated in focus group discussions. This study adopted a cross sectional descriptive survey design and used multi -stage sampling; stratified sampling , simple sampling techniques to select the respondents. Frequency distribution was used to examine patterns of responses and was expressed in percentage. SPSS was also used to analyze the data. Research findings indicated that there was a strong association between sexual activity and the following variables – age, class, school type, religion, alcohol consumption, watching romantic movies and pornography. However, these variables differed across gender. The government needs to evaluate the effectiveness of guidance and counseling in secondary schools. More so, religious leaders and the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Health should develop a curriculum and effective programs to reduce sexual activity and HIV infection among youth in secondary schools. Also sex education should be replaced with sexuality education.

Description

MASTER OF ARTS in Counseling Psychology

Keywords

spread of HIV/AIDS, youth in Kenya, Athi-River zone, Kenyan population

Citation

Ngondi, R. K. (2015). Factors Affecting Resistance to Changing Sexual Behaviour Practices in The Fight Against HIV/AIDs Among Selected Secondary School Youth in Athi-River Zone, Machakos County, Kenya. Daystar University, School of Applied Human Sciences