DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND PATIENT CARE

Cell Research, 15(11-12):891-894, Nov-Dec 2005

Effects of drug relief hospital-based AIDS educational methods on drug users

Xiang Ping LI¹, Shun Zhen XIAO^{1, *}, Qiao Qin WAN¹, Sen Lin SONG², Yan Xia TENG²

¹School of Nursing, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China
²Department of Psychiatry, DaXing Hospital, Beijing Drug Abuse Treatment Center, Beijing 102600, China

Correspondence: Shun Zhen XIAO 011-86-10-8280-2106 (phone) 011-86-10-6201-5681 (fax) E-mail:szxaio@bjmu.edu.cn

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The objective of this study is to explore a potentially effective training method for the hospital professionals to educate drug users and to enhance their knowledge of HIV infection. One hundred and sixty one subjects, who came from 13 different provinces and were admitted in a drug relief hospital in Beijing, were recruited for this study. The average age of these subjects was 35.21±6.24 year old. The average numbers of years for drug addiction were 7 years, and the average numbers of drug relief treatment received in the past was 5.5 times. The level of AIDS knowledge of these subjects, including pathogenic factors, source of infection, route of transmission and preventive measures, were evaluated before and after receiving the AIDS educational training to these drug users. Our results showed that there was a statistically significant increase (P<0.01) in the knowledge of HIV infection and prevention among these subjects. Positive attitude and behavioral tendencies toward HIV prevention were also improved. Therefore, it is imperative for the medical professionals to incorporate AIDS education into drug relief treatment to achieve the maximum effect on the knowledge of AIDS and improvement of positive attitudes and behaviors toward HIV prevention among drug users.

Keywords: HIV infection; drug users; educational methods; attitude and behavirs.