Knowledge of effect of exercise on HIV infected persons among physiotherapy students in Nigeria

Despite the recognition and knowledge of the beneficial effects of exercise on persons living with HIV and AIDS in the developed world, there is global paucity of published studies on knowledge of effect of exercise on HIV infected persons. This study was therefore designed to determine whether physiotherapy students in Nigeria have the basic knowledge on the effect of exercise on HIV infected persons. Simple random sampling was employed to select four out of seven universities in Nigeria that already have existing and established Physiotherapy Departments. The instrument for this study was a validated and reliable 20 item questionnaire on knowledge of effects of exercise on HIV infected persons used in a previous study to investigate knowledge of effect of exercise on HIV infected persons among health care professionals in North eastern Nigeria. This questionnaire was administered to 346 respondents with a response rate of 74%. The mean and age range of the participants were 24.27 ± 2.68 and 20 to 39 years, respectively with majority (97.7%) between the ages of 20 and 31 years. More than one-quarter (29%) of the respondents lacked good knowledge on effect of exercise on HIV infected persons. Overwhelming (80%) Physiotherapy students in Nigeria lacked very good knowledge on effect of exercise on HIV infected persons.