Factors associated with the willingness of young people in higher education to adhere to syphilis screening.

OBJECTIVES

to investigate factors associated with willingness to know one's syphilis serological status among higher education students.

METHODS

a cross-sectional and analytical study conducted with higher education students in Portugal. Data collection was carried out through an online questionnaire. Data were analyzed by Poisson logistic regression with robust variance, using SPSS-24.

RESULTS

413 students were included, most of whom were female, with an average age of 20.5 years and enrolled in health courses. Behavioral vulnerabilities were observed, such as non-use of condoms and use of alcohol/other drugs, low risk perception, and poor knowledge about syphilis. Less than half of students were willing to take the syphilis test.

CONCLUSIONS

adherence to syphilis screening was low and associated with uncommon factors, such as less knowledge, low risk perception, younger age, number of sexual partners and attending courses in areas other than health.