[Determining students health information needs at the Service of Inter-university Preventative Medicine in Bordeaux]

At the request of the Service of Academic Preventative Medicine (APM) in Bordeaux, this study was carried out in the year 2000 and aimed to identify the health information needs of the university's student population. The questionnaire, which was completed by the students themselves, mainly explored health information needs, health status and the students' living conditions. Of the 370 total students coming from all University disciplines who participated in this study, a majority of them were women (61%), with the median age of 21 years old. The majority of students (69%) said that they were stressed and/or depressed and more than one-third were tired. Nearly 20% of the students were smokers, 9% declared that they regularly drank alcohol and 7% of them reported that they never consulted a physician. When asked specifically about their health information needs, they expressed a preference for receiving information on sexually transmitted diseases, how to stay in good health and on issues like psychology, depression and suicide. These themes differed according to gender and risk behaviour. These results permitted a better understanding of the students' health information needs and provided the knowledge necessaryin order to streamline and appropriately adapt the APM's activities for the following academic year in order to be more focused to respond to these needs.