Abstract

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Dr. Kirti Sharma, Dr. K. T. Moly*, Anupriya P., Aishwarya K., Aiswarya Madhu, Aiswarya Muralidharan and Aiswarya V. T.

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Abstract

Background: The LGBTQIA+ community is an increasingly open, acknowledged, and visible part of society, which is still facing harassment, discrimination, and threats of violence because of their sexual orientation. The major crises faced by the LGBTQIA+ community are low annual income, lack of money for food or health care, being unemployed, bullying, family rejection, and homelessness. Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to determine the knowledge and attitude of college students towards the LGBTQIA+ community. Materials and Methods: A quantitative descriptive survey was conducted on 300 subjects. The tools used were structured questionnaires to assess sociodemographic variables, knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community, and a modified Likert scale to assess the attitude. Results: More than half of the subjects 59% (177) belonged to the age group of 18-20 years, and were females 78.7% (236). A moderate to high level of knowledge was found in 63.3% of the subjects. More than one-third of the sample (36.7%) had low knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community. A positive attitude was reported by 83% of college students towards the LGBTQIA+ community. However,16% of them did not have any opinion and 1% had a negative attitude. The correlation between knowledge and attitude regarding the LGBTQIA+ community was found to be weakly positive (0.095). Conclusion: Research on issues related to LGBTQIA+ persons in society especially on college campuses will enhance knowledge and societal attitudes to neutralize discrimination based on sexual orientation. The positive knowledge and attitude found among the arts college students in the study cannot be generalized to the students of a rural area. More wide studies across the country are required to identify, educate, and erase the social stigma towards the LGBTQIA+ community.

Keywords: LGBTQIA+, Community, Knowledge, Attitude, College students.