Promoting sexual abstinence intention among female university students: A quasi-experimental study

Background: The effectiveness of a theory-based educational intervention on intension for sexual abstinence among female university students was evaluated. Materials and Methods: Female students were recruited from humanity sciences department through cluster sampling. Educational intervention was applied for four 90-min sessions and by application of cognitive theories during 4 weeks. Results: One hundred and nine female students with mean age of 20.74 +/- 1.57 years took part in the study. Despite the similarity of two groups of intervention (n = 53) and control (n = 59) at baseline, there were significant differences between the two groups in mean scores of the variables, knowledge (4.62 +/- 1.38 vs. 3.53 +/- 1.61), perceived susceptibility (14.05 +/- 1.51 vs. 12.37 +/- 2.11), and perceived benefits (28.41 +/- 2.14 vs. 27.51 +/- 3.05), at follow-up time after 3 months (P < 0.05). Additionally, these variables were observed with improvement over 3 months in the intervention group (P < 0.05). However, this study showed no significant effect on the behavior intention and self-efficacy. Conclusion: This study showed that educational intervention could improve knowledge, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy of the female students regarding HIV/AIDS.