A B S T R A C T Almost every day each of us can read or hear in the media a lot of distorted information concerning HIV or AIDS. Therefore it is necessary to have knowledge about the possible risks of HIV transmission and all ways the HIV can be transferred. These attitudes and preventive measures of knowledge should be developed in high school students who are experiencing very rapid physical and psychosocial growth. Sufficient amount of information available in the problem group of 15-24 year olds has a positive impact on their sexual behavior and thus on prevention. My research methods of knowledge about HIV were done in two schools, one is an eight-year high school, where 24 students of fifth year were questioned and second is a four- year high school, where 24 students of first year were questioned. I used a cross-sectional pre-test and post-test. Students of the fifth year were taken deeper into the problems through creation of posters on topics connected with the problem of HIV. The aim of my research is to develop proposals for the scientific conference, which will be lead by the students and will be accompanied by the created images (posters). This is a non-violent way of repeating the HIV prevention. Creating a pre-test and post-test to determine the extent of knowledge gained after completing the...

Student Number : 9801839H - MA research report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has spread throughout the world and its prevalence in sport has received increasing attention. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the knowledge, attitudes and relationship behaviour with respect to HIV and AIDS among athletes participating in contact sport. In addition, this study included a preliminary investigation into whether sport participation facilitates the development of life skills which would act as a buffer against the risky behaviours that increases vulnerability to infection. A self-report questionnaire was specifically constructed to address the aims of the study. The sample comprised of 38 male athletes between the ages of 18 and 30, from the following codes of contact sport: boxing, rugby, and taekwondo in Gauteng. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the participants’ responses. The findings indicated that the athletes had a good level of knowledge, but some misconceptions still remain. Attitudes of the athletes appeared to be in favour of mandatory testing and disclosure of one’s status. Positions on the participation of HIV-positive athletes in sport alternated between exclusion on the basis of safety and inclusion so as not to facilitate the proliferation of stigma. Few athletes reported continued involvement in high-risk behaviour, but it was encouraging that the largest part of participants declared exhibiting preventative behaviour. Sport participation was found to have some biopsychosocial impact on participants, which may extend to enhance health-seeking behaviour. Research findings may be fundamental in directing future AIDS prevention efforts within and beyond the sports arena.

This study examined the effects of behavior change on psychological health among gay and bisexual men of Portland, Oregon who were at risk for contracting AIDS. Cross-sectional self-reports of personal experiences were obtained in Summer, 1991. Sexual behaviors were used as predictors of self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, and subjective well-being. Adopting safer sexual behaviors was psychologically more costly than continuing to engage in high risk behaviors, or long-term adherence to safer behaviors. Behaviors amenable to short-term change differed from those conducive to long-term maintenance. Behavior change was also found to have a beneficial effect on self-efficacy. These findings suggest that behavior change, traditionally considered as the endpoint of a process, might more appropriately be considered as an interim stage influenced by earlier, and having an influence on later, psychological health. By integrating models of behavior change from research on alcohol and drug use, smoking, and weight control, researchers studying AIDS-related behavior might better understand the place of behavior change in the process of change, relapse, and maintenance.

No description available.

<p>Background: In Namibia, studies showed that HIV/AIDS affects youth, especially the under 24 years age group. At the same time the pregnancy rate is also high by age 19. Interestingly, in&nbsp / Andara district several reports from staff working in the reproductive services have indicated that adolescent girls, who would seem to be taking responsibility in one sphere of their sexual lives&nbsp / by protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancy, were however not using condoms to protect themselves from HIV infection. Study Aim and Objectives: To describe the knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to HIV/AIDS amongst female adolescents who are accessing the primary health care (PHC) services for contraception. Specific objectives were to describe the&nbsp / knowledge of female adolescents who are accessing the PHC services for contraception about the modes of transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS, to assess their attitude with regards to&nbsp / condom use, abstinence and being faithful to one uninfected partner, also to determine the significance of association between age and knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, between their&nbsp / education level and knowledge, attitudes and behaviour and the significance of association between knowledge of HIV prevention strategies and&nbsp / behaviour of female adolescents accessing&nbsp / &nbsp / PHC services for contraception in the district. Setting: The study was conducted in Andara district, North East of Namibia. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional KAB study. Sample: All female&nbsp / adolescents who are accessing PHC services for contraception selected from multistage simple random sampling in 5 facilities and systematic sampling at facility level in Andara. All married&nbsp / women within this age range were excluded in the study. Data collection tool: An interviewer-administered standardised questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data analysis and&nbsp / Interpretations: Epi Info software 2002 was used for data analysis. The results were presented using descriptive statistics including means, 95% confidence intervals and percentages and&nbsp / this information was shown in tables, bar and pie charts. Cross-tabulations of knowledge, attitude and behaviour scores against demographic variables were performed. P-values &lt / 0.05 were&nbsp / &nbsp / considered statistically significant. Results: 76.5% knew that unprotected sexual intercourse was the main way of getting HIV/AIDS, 77.3% knew that people could protect themselves by&nbsp / abstaining from sexual intercourse and 64.5% knew that people could protect themselves by having one uninfected faithful sexual partner. Out of 192 respondents who stated that unprotected&nbsp / sexual intercourse was the main way of HIV/AIDS transmission, 25.5% used condom every time they had sexual intercourse, 10.9% used condom almost every time they had sex, 41.1% used&nbsp / condom sometimes and 22.4% never used condom. Older girls and those who were in higher grades at school had more knowledge that could protect them from HIV infection. Later sexual&nbsp / debut is associated with increased&nbsp / condom usage at sexual debut. Conclusions: The general HIV knowledge of respondents and their knowledge of how to&nbsp / protect themselves from HIV infection were disappointing given that this&nbsp / study was conducted in health facilities. In this study we also see that knowledge does not always translate into the appropriate behaviour. The health services need to evaluate the targeting and&nbsp / effectiveness of their HIV educational messages and develop skills that will support behaviour change.&nbsp / </p>

The world’s understanding of HIV/AIDS is grounded in biomedicine and shaped by cognitive psychology. Both biomedicine and cognitive psychology bonded with historically top-down development mechanisms to create ‘prevention’ strategies that obscured from vision the root causes of the pandemic. Within this hierarchy, bio-medicine and the cognitive psychological conception of human beings silenced indigenous voices and experiences of communities fighting HIV/AIDS. This is most certainly true in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa. This research explores the emergence of the Community Capacity Enhancement – Community Conversations prevention approach that places community dialogue, and the voices of communities, at the forefront of the battle to end HIV/AIDS and deconstruct and challenge the forms of structural violence that hold prevalence rates in their place. Within these spaces, oral traditions, indigenous knowledge, and resistance illustrate new and complex pictures of the viruses’ socio-economic impact and provide new foundations for community generated movements to curb the virus.

The world’s understanding of HIV/AIDS is grounded in biomedicine and shaped by cognitive psychology. Both biomedicine and cognitive psychology bonded with historically top-down development mechanisms to create ‘prevention’ strategies that obscured from vision the root causes of the pandemic. Within this hierarchy, bio-medicine and the cognitive psychological conception of human beings silenced indigenous voices and experiences of communities fighting HIV/AIDS. This is most certainly true in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa. This research explores the emergence of the Community Capacity Enhancement – Community Conversations prevention approach that places community dialogue, and the voices of communities, at the forefront of the battle to end HIV/AIDS and deconstruct and challenge the forms of structural violence that hold prevalence rates in their place. Within these spaces, oral traditions, indigenous knowledge, and resistance illustrate new and complex pictures of the viruses’ socio-economic impact and provide new foundations for community generated movements to curb the virus.

The purpose of this study is to explore how different discourses about risk linked to HIV prevention is likely to affect the decisions on the distribution of state funding for preventive activities aimed at 'men who have sex with men' (MSM). This by making qualitative interviews with principals that have an impact on this decision. Using a discourse analytic approach, based on both theoretical and methodological foundations, I investigate the discursive constructions of risk of HIV linked to certain groups and behaviors. MSM is found in the material placed into two different formations of groups, on one hand by the behavior on the other hand on the basis of identity. The identity position is organized discursively from a “victim” position while MSM provides an "operator" position. MSM is thus incompatible with the victim's position needed to be taken into account in the allocation of HIV prevention funds. On this basis I argue that the impact of heteronormativity, combined with an unwillingness to stigmatize, threatens to make HIV prevention ineffective when it is distributed on a different premise than epidemiological trends.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-109). Also available via the World Wide Web.