AIDS-related knowledge, condom usage among medical postgraduates.

Objective: To investigate the knowledge about safety/unsafety of sexual acts relating to HIV transmission, levels of embarrassment related to condom and condom usage among medical postgraduates.

Methods: From August to December, 1998, a self-administered anonymous questionnaire was given to 271 new medical postgraduates from two medical colleges of Beijing and Hebei Province.

Results: There was a hazy understanding of the protective function of condom from AIDS among medical postgraduates. Only 14.4% medical postgraduates persisted in using condom, and 27.94% had never or almost never used it. The levels of embarrassment about condom were high. The median score was 3.55 +/- 0.98. Whether to use condom was related with the attitudes to condom, but not to AIDS.

Conclusion: There was some misunderstanding about condom and inconsistent condom usage in medical postgraduates. So it is essential to strengthen the sexual health education among them.