Parents’ understanding of children’s exposure to the risks of STD/AIDS

Abstract

A Dialogue between parents and children as a way to advise, prevent and educate them about sex is a great method to reduce the incidence of STD/AIDS. The aim of this descriptive and exploratory research is to investigate parent’s understanding towards the risk their adolescents run of getting a STD/AIDS infection. It took place in a public school in Fortaleza-Ceará-Brazil and the data was collected from the teenagers’ parents through questionnaires. The results showed that the parents knew a little about STD/AIDS; however they didn’t feel comfortable discussing sexual concerns with their children. In conclusion, women are the great responsible for the sexual education of their children and still don’t face STD/AIDS as a problem, what results in lack of dialogue about sex/sexuality between parents and children.