Establishment of social clubs as a potential tool to educate adolescents living in urban field practice area of Shri BM Patil Medical college, Bijapur.

Abstract

Introduction: Globally half of the new HIV/AIDS cases are among the age group of 15 to 24 years and the greatest hope for changing the course of epidemic lies with the same agegroup. Within this age group, adolescents are more vulnerable to HIV infection as they do not have access to appropriate information or awareness of the dangers of high risk behavior. Objectives: Utilization and Impact of Social Clubs on imparting Knowledge to the Adolescents regarding HIV/ AIDS. Methodology: The study was conducted from Dec 2012 to Nov 2013. Assuming a 30 per cent prevalence of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, 95 per cent confidence interval and 15 per cent allowable error and 10 % dropout rate the calculated sample size was 438 adolescents Results: Out of 438 enrolled adolescents in the social club, 64 per cent participated in vocational training courses (62% girls and 38% boys) and also they participated in recreational activities and AIDS education sessions. The remaining (36%) participated only in recreational activities.88 per cent of adolescents attended more than 75 per cent of educational sessions held while 10 Per cent attended only 50 to 75 per cent of AIDS awareness sessions. Conclusion: The social clubs seem to have potentials to improve HIV/AIDS awareness among adolescents to adopt a healthy lifestyle and can be utilized to address various issues related to adolescents.