University students in Zimbabwe represent a demographic subgroup particularly vulnerable to the risks associated with sexual behavior, including unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), notably HIV. This article presents an in-depth exploration of the multifaceted factors influencing sexual practices among this population. Drawing upon a comprehensive review of existing literature and considering socio-cultural contexts, this study aims to map the shifting landscape of student sexual behavior. We investigate prevalent sexual risk behaviors, knowledge and misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS, attitudes towards safer sex practices, and the impact of social and environmental factors. By synthesizing current research, this article provides insights crucial for developing targeted and effective health interventions and educational programs to promote sexual health and well-being among Zimbabwean university students.

Sexual behavior, university students, Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS

Ahmed, A., & Rahman, M., Hasan R. (2014). Hypertension and associated risk factors in some selected rural areas of Bangladesh. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2(3), 925–931. Doi: 10.5455/2320-6012.ijrms20140816.

Adefuye, A. S., Abiona, T. C., Balogun, J. A., & Lukobo-Durrell, M. (2009). HIV Sexual Risk Behaviours and Perception of Risk among College Students: Implications for Planning Interventions. BMC Public Health, 9, Article No. 281. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-281.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). 5th Edition, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.

Bassett, M. T., McFarland, W. C., Ray, S., Mbizvo, M. T., Machekano, R., Van de Wijgert, H. H., & Katzenstein, D. (1996). Risk factors for HIV infection at enrolment in an urban male factory cohort in Harare, Zimbabwe. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, 13(3), 293-298.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health-care settings, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 54(RR17) [PubMed].

Chan, M. (2010). Factors affecting nursing staff in practising spiritual care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(15–16), 2128–2136.

Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage Publications.

Charmaz, K. (2010). Discovering chronic illness: Using grounded theory. Social Science and Medicine, 30, 1161–1172.

Creswell, J. W. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage Publications.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Introduction: entering the field of qualitative Research. In: Denzin N.K., Lincoln Y.S. (Eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.

Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62, 107-115.

Free, C., Philips, P., Felix, L., Galli, L., Patel, V., & Edwards, P. (2010). The Effectiveness of Medhealth technologies for improving health and health services: a systematic review protocol. BMC Research Notes, 3(250). http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/3/250.

Gondo, M. T., & Mtemeri, J. (2022). Muted but not silent: Factors influencing sexual abuse Disclosure among adolescents in Gutu district, Zimbabwe. Global Journal of Guidance and Counseling in Schools: Current Perspectives, 12(1), 68–87. https://doi.org/10.18844/gjgc.v12i1.5136.

Govender, R., & Schlebusch, L. (2012). Suicidal ideation in seropositive patients seen at a South African HIV voluntary counselling and testing clinic. African Journal of Psychiatry, 15, 94-98.

Jansen, R. S., Van Leeuwen, A., Janssen, J., Kester, L., & Kalz, M. (2017). Validation of the self-regulated online learning questionnaire. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 29(1), 6–27.

Jin, S. H., & Yin, R. (2019). Research on Overseas Marketing Strategies of Domestic Smartphones. Technology and Market, 26, 189-190.

Kapiga, S. H., Shao J. F, Lwihula G.K., & Hunter, D. J. (1994). Risk factors for HIV infection among women in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 3, 301–9.

Kohler, K., Eksin, M., Peil, E., Sammel, A., Uuetoa, M., & Villa, I. (2016). Policy brief: reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Estonia (World Health Organization EVIPNet Initiative); World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Krueger, R. A. (1994). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Lamstein, S. T., Stillman, P., Koniz - Booher, A., Aakesson, B., Collaiezzi, T.,Williams, L. J., Gunn, L., Car, J., Felix, L., Knowles, S., Head, R. & Riboli- Sasco, E.F. (2013). Effects of behaviour change communication strategies embedded in social marketing programmes on health behaviours and related health and welfare outcomes in low and middle income countries. The Campbell Collaboration.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E.G. (2015). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Martin, J. S., Chater, A. & Lorencatto, F. (2013). Effective behaviour change techniques in the prevention and management of childhood obesity. International Journal of Obesity, 37(10), 1287-1294. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2013.107.

Maziz, M. N. H., Fazlul, M., & Deepthi S. (2018) et al. A study of comparison on knowledge and misconceptions about Hiv/Aids among students in a private university in Malaysia. Malaysian J Public Health Med, 19(1), 134–142. doi:10.37268/mjphm/vol.19/no.1/art.45.

Mavedzenge, S. N., Doyle, A.M., & Ross, M. L. (2010). The sexual behaviour of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: patterns and trends from national surveys. International Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2012.03005.x.

Merritt, A. C. (2011). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48 (3), 774-777, 2012 ... AC Merritt, B Monin. Emotion Review 3 (3), 318-319, 2011.

Mooney, E., Caraher, M. (2017). Identification of behaviour change techniques applied in interventions to improve cooking skills and food skills among adults. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., 1–14.

Morgan, D. L. (2018). Focus group interviewing. In J. F. Gubrium, & J. A. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interviewing research: Context & Method. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Mosavel, M. & Thomas, T. (2009) Daughter-initiated health advice to mothers: perceptions of African-American and Latina daughters. Health Care for Women International, 24, 799–810.

Mouy, H. (2006). Health Promotion Journal of Australia Volume 17, Issue 3 p. 189-195; https://doi.org/10.1071/HE06189.

Munachaka, J. (2006). Teachers’ Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS Infection: The Case of Lusaka District. Unpublished MA Dissertation, University of Zambia.

National AIDS Council of Zimbabwe. (2018). Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2018-2023 (Report No. NAC/01/2018).

Nkomazana, N. & Maharaj, P. (2014). Perception of risk of HIV infections and sexual behaviour of the sexually active university students in Zimbabwe. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS: An Open Access Journal, 11(1), 42-50. DOI:10.1080/17290376.2014.886082.

Odberg-Pettersson, K., & Per-Olof, O. (2011). Experience of sexual coercion and risky sexual behaviour among Ugandan university students. BMC Public Health, 11, Article number: 527.

Olusheyi, O. L. & Kanthula, R. M. (2010). Factors that influence Attitudes and Sexual Behaviour among Constituency Youth Workers in Oshana Region, Namibia. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 14(1).

Oswald, H. & Pforr, P. (1992) Sexuality and AIDS: attitudes and behaviours of adolescents in East and West Berlin. Journal of Adolescence, 15, 373^391.

Patel, V., & Edwards, P. (2010). International journal of epidemiology, (2010).39 6. FREE, C; Poorman, E., Gazmararian, J., Parker, R.M., Yang, B., Elon, L. (2014). Use of text messaging for maternal and infant health: A Systematic review of the literature. Matern Child Health J, 19:969–89.

Riboli - Sasco, E., Leslie, J., Felix, L., Head, R., Car, J. & Gunn, L.H. (2015). Effectiveness of communication strategies embedded in social marketing programmes on health behaviours and related health and welfare outcomes in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Berlin: The Campbell Collaboration.

Ritchie, S., & Robson, C. (1994, 2011). Real world research: A resource for users of social research methods in applied settings (3rd edn). Chichester: John Wiley. www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2015_ Summary_and_Tables.pdf.

Sano, Y. Antabe R., & Atuoye, K. N. (2016). Persistent misconceptions about HIV transmission among males and females in Malawi. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 16(1):16. Doi: 10.1186/s12914-016-0089-8.

Talwar, P. (2015). Assessment of HIV knowledge among university students using the HIV-Q-18 scale: A cross-sectional study. South East Asia Journal of Public Health, 5(1), 33–38. doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v5i1.24849.

Tenkorang, E. Y. (2013). Myths and misconceptions about HIV transmission in Ghana: what are the drivers? Culture, Health & Sexuality, 15(3), 296–310. doi:10.1080/13691058.2012.752107.

United Nation Fund for Population Activities. (2005). State of world populations. Adolescents fact sheet. Available from: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_adolescents.htm [cited 10 June 2011].

UNAIDS & AIDSinfo. (2021). Global Facts Sheet, UNAIDS. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet.

United States Agency for International Development. (2020). 2020 Annual Report. (Link unavailable).

Werner, D. (2008). Empowerment and health: Contact Christian Medical Commission. Geneva, Switzerland.

World Health Organisation. (2007). Maternal mortality in 2005, Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank. [Google Scholar] World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Bank Group, United Nations Population Division Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015: Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division. Geneva: WHO; 2015. http://www.who. Int/reproductivehealth/publications/monitoring/maternal-mortality-2015/en/. Accessed November 19, 2017. Google Scholar.

Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey. (2006).

Zolopa, A. R., Andersen, J., Komarow, L., Sanne, I., Sanchez, A., Hogg, E., Suckow, C. & Powderly, W. for the ACTG A5164 study team. (2009). Early antiretroviral therapy reduces AIDS progression/death in individuals with acute opportunistic infections: a Multicentre randomized strategy trial. PLoS One, 4(5): e5575.

Sieber, J. E., & Tolich, M. (2013). Planning ethicallly responsible research. Sage Publications.