Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and Their ‘Hidden’ Role in Protecting Their Future Pupils’ Well-Being through Health Education.
Eleni Michalopoulos PhD, RN; Maria Frounta, PhD, RN; Panagiotis Kiekkas, PhD, RN; Vasiliki Dimopoulou, MS, RN; Antigone Michalopoulos, PhD, RN

Abstract
Health education plays a fundamental role in the protection of health. The implementation of health education within schools depends, to an extent, on the teachers’ knowledge. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pre-service teachers’ HIV/AIDS knowledge using the brief HIV-KQ-18 questionnaire. Greek university students from the Departments of Primary Education (53.8%) and Mechanical Engineering (46.2%) were included. The results indicate that 76,1% of the participants have a low and moderate HIV/AIDS knowledge level while 56,7% acquired HIV/AIDS knowledge from their school teacher. Students of the Department of Primary Education demonstrated a low knowledge level (77.1%). Based on these findings a portion of the sample, including future teachers in primary education, appears to have insufficient knowledge related to HIV/AIDS.

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