Sexual behavior and STI risk perception in university students with a gender perspective

Abstract

Recent national and global initiatives have drawn attention to the importance of sexual health for people's well-being. These initiatives promote the improvement of efforts to address this issue not represented in the curricula of the health professions. The present work aims to study sexual behavior and STIs risk perception in ESPOCH university students, considering the gender approach. A descriptive, cross-sectional study with a gender focus was carried out in 119 university students. First protected sexual experience, having several partners and the need for information on sexuality were statistically significant in relation to the gender of the students surveyed (p <0.05). Effective control of STIs will require dedicated multimodal public health responses that include health promotion and prevention. The results of this research may be useful to guide the redesign of sexual health programs in college students.