Abstract

Background: Personal perception is one of factors that would affect health behavior of individual, including risky sexual behavior, which places university students at risk for HIV infection. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between perceptions about HIV/AIDS and HIV prevention behaviors including abstinence, be faithful, and condom use among university students in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in this study. Data were collected from 296 undergraduate students using self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of AIDS health belief questionnaire (AHBQ) and HIV prevention behaviors questions. Chi-square tests were used for data analysis. Results: Roughly 36.8% of university students ever had sexual intercourse before married, 53.2% had multiple sexual partners, and 68.8% did not use a condom consistently. Perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection were significantly associated with abstinence (= 6.700, p<.05 and = 7.471, p<.05, respectively), and condom use (= 9.357, p<.01 and = 14.63, p<.01, respectively). However, perceived severity of HIV/AIDS, and perceived susceptibility to HIV/AIDS were not associated with abstinence, be faithful, and condom use. Conclusion: The findings suggest that HIV prevention campaigns should be designed appropriately to improve perceived benefits from HIV prevention behaviors and decrease perceived barriers to prevent HIV infection.