Introduction:

the human immunodeficiency virus is a disease whose influence has marked the population, cultural, economic, social and school development of the world. At present there are now major campaigns for its prevention; however, the rate of contagion in Colombia takes an upward trend in university students between the ages of 15 and 34.

Objective:

to analyze the knowledge, attitudes (positive and negative) and erroneous beliefs of university students in the city of Bucaramanga on human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Materials and methods:

cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study, with a reference population of 1,243 university students, active enrolled, between the ages of 15 and 34. A sample of 180 students was taken, applying a probabilistic sampling. Data collection was carried out, with prior informed consent, using the HIV/AIDS-65 Scale modified for Colombia. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

a total of 180 university students, with an average age of 25.61 years, responded to the survey. 71.1% of the respondents were single and women made up 55.5%. 83.8% had good knowledge about HIV; 11.94% had misconceptions about the disease; 22.96% showed negative attitudes; 30.53% did not consider themselves susceptible to contracting the disease, and 6.6% showed low levels of efficacy in prevention.

Conclusions:

knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus infection allows the improvement of attitudes, perceptions and beliefs regarding the disease, and positivity to the virus.

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