Table 3.
Awareness and knowledge of STDs reported in 14 of the 15 studies included in the review
| Question/Item assessed in studies | Females % (reference) |
Males % (reference) |
Females and males % (reference) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HPV | |||
| Heard of HPV (identification from list of STDs or direct question, 'Have you heard of HPV?') | 71.6% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 16.4% (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
51.2% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 9.6% (Gottvall et al., 2009) [46] |
66.6% (Pelucchi et al.)** [49] 13.5% (Gottvall et al.)** [46] 5.4% (Höglund et al.) [47] 33% (Woodhall et al.) [45] |
| Heard of HPV (open question - 'Which STDs do you know/have you heard of?') | 0.2% (Höglund et al.) [47] | ||
| Heard of HPV vaccine | 9.2% (Gottvall et al.) [46] | 1.1% (Gottvall et al.) [46] | 5.8% (Gottvall et al.)** [46] 1.1% (Höglund et al.) [47] |
| Participants who knew that HPV is sexually transmitted | 64.9% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 12.1% (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
47.4% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 5.4% (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
60.6% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 9.2% (Gottvall et al.)** [46] 2.9% (Höglund et al.) [47] |
| Participants who knew that HPV is a risk factor for cervical cancer (closed question) | 11.8% (Gottvall et al.) [46] | 3.1% (Gottvall et al.) [46] | 8.1% (Gottvall et al.) [46] 1.2% (Höglund et al.) [47] |
| Participants aware that aim of HPV vaccination is to prevent cervical cancer | 53.9% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] | 32.1% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] | 48.6% (Pelucchi et al.)** [49] |
| Participants who thought that aim of HPV vaccination is to prevent an STD | 8.6% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] | 7.2%(Pelucchi et al., 2010) [49] | 8.3% (Pelucchi et al.) [49] |
| Subjective rating of risk of contracting HPV | 45% perceived at risk (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 11.8% do not believe will be infected (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
26% perceived at risk (Pelucchi et al.) [49] 24.5% do not believe will be infected (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
17.3% do not believe will be infected (Gottvall et al.)** [46] |
| HIV | |||
| Heard of HIV (identification from list of STDs or direct question) | 97.2% among year 9 and 100% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 97.0% among year 9 and 96.2% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 97.7% (Garside et al.) [42] 100% (Tyden et al.) 91% [38] (Fogarty) [36] |
| Heard of HIV (open question - which STDs do you know/have you heard of?) | 88% (Höglund et al.) [47] | ||
| Participants who knew that you can not tell by looking at someone if they have HIV | Overall 53% (Goodwin et al.)2 [43] | ||
| Participants who knew that HIV is caused by a virus | 91% (Eriksson et al.) [41] 88% (Fogarty) [36] |
||
| Participants who knew that HIV is sexually transmitted | 99% (Sachsenweger et al.) # [49] 97% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] |
99% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 86% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] |
99% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 81% (Höglund et al.) [47] 92% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] 99% (Eriksson et al.) [41] 95% (Fogarty) [36] |
| Participants who knew that sharing a needle with an HIV infected person may lead to infection with the virus | 91% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 72% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] |
91% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 62% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] |
91% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 68% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] 95% (Eriksson et al.) [41] 99% (Fogarty) [36] |
| Participants who knew that use of condoms can protect against contraction of HIV | 83%(Goodwin et al.)1[43] 42% (Lunin et al.) [39] |
86% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] 60% (Lunin et al.) [39] |
99% (Sachsenweger et al.) #[49] 76% (Höglund et al.) [47] 84% (Goodwin et al.)1[43] 99% (Eriksson et al.) [41] 51% (Lunin et al., 1995)** [39] 94% (Fogarty) [36] |
| Participants who knew where to go for diagnosis/treatment/advice on HIV | 22% aware of STD clinic and 32% of AIDS telephone service (Fogarty) [36] | ||
| Subjective rating of risk of contracting HIV | 11% perceived themselves 'not at risk' (Lunin et al.) [39] | 19% perceived themselves 'not at risk' (Lunin et al.) [39] | 15% perceived themselves 'not at risk' (Lunin et al.)** [39] |
| Chlamydia | |||
| Heard of chlamydia (identification from list of STDs or direct question) | 41.4% among year 9 and 22.7% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] 79% (Tyden et al.) [38] |
36.7% among year 9 and 13.2% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] 60% (Tyden et al.) [38] |
34% (Garside et al.)*** [42] 70% (Tyden et al.) [38] 91% in 1986, and 96% in 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] |
| Heard of chlamydia (open question - which STDs do you know/have you heard of?) | 86% (Höglund et al.) [47] | ||
| Participants who knew that chlamydia can be symptom-free | 51% in 1986, and 68% in 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] | 28% in 1986, and 45% in 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] | 46% (Höglund et al.) [47] 40% in 1986, and 56% in 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.)** [37] |
| Syphilis | |||
| Heard of syphilis (identification from list of STDs or direct question) | 45.5% among year 9 and 47.0% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 43.4% among year 9 and 45.3% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 45% (Garside et al.) [42] |
| Gonorrhoea | |||
| Heard of gonorrhoea (identification from list of STDs or direct question) | 51.0% among year 9 and 53.0% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 52.4% among year 9 and 60.4% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 53% (Garside et al.) [42] ≥ 84% (Tyden et al.) [38] 98%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] |
| Heard of gonorrhoea (open question - which STDs do you know/have you heard of?) | 50% (Höglund et al.) [47] | ||
| Herpes | |||
| Heard of herpes (identification from list of STDs or direct question) | 52.4% among year 9 and 75.8% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 53.6% among year 9 and 71.7% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 59.1% (Garside et al.)*** [42] 90%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] 56% (Tyden et al.) [38] |
| Heard of herpes (open question - which STDs do you know/have you heard of?) | 64% (Höglund et al.) [47] | ||
| STDs in general | |||
| Participants who knew that STDs in general can be symptom-free | 53.8% among year 9 and 60.0% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 64.2% among year 9 and 60.4% among year 11 pupils (Garside et al.) [42] | 59.7% (Garside et al.) [42] |
| Participants who knew that use of condoms can protect against contraction of STDs in general | 15%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] 34%, 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] 100% (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [40] |
27%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] 52%, 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] |
20%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.)** [37] 43%, 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.)** [37] 100% (Tyden et al.) [38] |
| Subjective rating of risk of contracting an STD in general | 32%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al., 1991) [37] 24%, 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] |
16%, 1986 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] 24%, 1988 survey (Andersson-Ellström et al.) [37] |
55% "low" perceived susceptibility (Woodhall et al.)* [45] |
| Reported use of condoms | |||
| Participants who reported using condoms at first sexual intercourse | 50% (Tyden et al.) [38] 65% (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
40% (Tyden et al.) [38] 65% (Gottvall et al.) [46] |
45% (Tyden et al.) [38] 65% (Gottvall et al.) [46] 61% (Höglund et al.) [47] |
| Participants who reported using condoms at last sexual intercourse | 26% (Tyden et al.) [38] | 38% (Tyden et al.) [38] | 31% (Tyden et al.) [38] |
* combined figure given for HPV and chlamydia
** statistically significant differences in awareness/knowledge between boys and girls
*** statistically significant differences in awareness/knowledge between year 9 and year 11 pupils
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