Knowledge and Attitude of Female Students Toward HIV/AIDS in the College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia

Objective: To assess female dental college students knowledge and attitude toward HIV/AIDS.Methodology: A total of 115 female students of the Dental College of King Khalid University (KKU), were included in this study. A validated self-administered anonymous questionnaire was used for data collection.Results: One-third of the dental students (33%) had insufficient knowledge about HTV/AIDS. About half of students (53%) had good knowledge, while 13% and 9% of students had very good and excellent knowledge, respectively. The attitude toward management of HIV/AIDS patients was negative among one third of students (33.9%), and passive among 66.1%, while none of them had positive or professional attitude about HIV/AIDS. Students knowledge about HIV/AIDS did not differ significantly according to their personal characteristic.Conclusions: KKU female dental students have deficiencies with regard to their knowledge on HIV and AIDS related topics. They are not well prepared for their future task of treating patients with HIV infection and this highlights the need for improving the undergraduate curriculum regarding HIV and AIDS.