Date of Defense

12-4-2013

Date of Graduation

12-2013

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Kimberly Searing

Second Advisor

Alice De Young

Abstract

This secondary analysis is a comparison of two Counties, Kalamazoo and Jackson, to see if the presence of a university has impact on reported Chlamydia cases. Nationally, 20-24 year olds account for the highest number of reported Chlamydia infections. This age group also accounts for the large majority of college students that attend Western Michigan University found in Kalamazoo County. It is believed that by collecting this data, there will be an obvious need for implementation of an education intervention for students at Western Michigan University regarding sexual health.

It was proposed that there would be a higher prevalence of Chlamydia in Kalamazoo County compared to Jackson County for the 20-24 year old age group. Looking at the reported cases over a ten-year span from 2001-2011 in both counties, it was also believed that there would be a steady increase over the years correlating with the national data. Finally, it was believed that the presence of a university would be the factor behind the larger reported cases in Kalamazoo County.

Some of the main findings of this thesis were that overall, females have higher reported rates of STIs compared to males. It was also found that the 20-24 year old age group has some of the highest rates of STIs for both Kalamazoo and Jackson County with exception of the 15-19 year old age group. Thus, indicating that there should be some sort of intervention aimed towards college students attending Western Michigan University implemented in order to educate young adults about Chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

ThesisDefense_JennaMoreau.pdf (1358 kB)
Powerpoint Presentation

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS