Sexual and reproductive health service needs of university/college students: updates from a survey in Shanghai, China.
OBJECTIVE
To promote the provision of reproductive health services to young people by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of university students in Shanghai, China, toward reproductive health.


METHODS
From July 2004 to May 2006, 5 243 students from 14 universities in Shanghai took part in our survey. Topics covered the demands of reproductive health-care services, attitudes towards and experience with sex, exposure to pornographic material, and knowledge on sexual health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/AIDS.


RESULTS
Of the 5 067 students who provided valid answer sheets, 50.05% were female and 49.95% were male, 14.86% were medical students, and 85.14% had non-medical backgrounds. A total of 38.4% of respondents had received reproductive health education previously. The majority of students supported school-based reproductive health education, and also acquired information about sex predominantly from books, schoolmates, and the Internet. Premarital sexual behavior was opposed by 17.7% of survey participants, and 37.5% could identify all the three types of STIs listed in the questionnaire. Although 83.7% knew how HIV is transmitted, only 55.7% knew when to use a condom and 57.8% knew that the use of condoms could reduce the risk of HIV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
The reproductive health service is lagging behind current attitudes and demands of university students. Although students' attitudes towards sexual matters are liberal, their knowledge about reproductive health and STIs/AIDS is still limited. It is therefore necessary to provide effective and confidential reproductive health services to young people.
Chen
Bin
B
Department of Urology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. dr_binchen@126.com
Lu
Yong-Ning
YN
Wang
Hong-Xiang
HX
Ma
Qing-Liang
QL
Zhao
Xiao-Ming
XM
Guo
Jian-Hua
JH
Hu
Kai
K
Wang
Yi-Xin
YX
Huang
Yi-Ran
YR
Chen
Pei
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D013333:Student Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities