HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and risk-behaviors among African-American and Caribbean college women

The HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and sexualrisk-taking behaviors of a sample ofAfrican-American and Caribbean college wereinvestigated. The study also explored therelationship between the women's self-esteem,self-efficacy, sexual communication, andreligiosity and their HIV knowledge, attitudes,and risk behaviors. Findings revealed thatwhile both groups of women were fairlyknowledgeable about HIV/AIDS transmission andprevention, their sexual risk-taking behaviorswere still relatively high. TheAfrican-American women were more knowledgeableabout HIV/AIDS than were the Caribbean women. Also, the African-American women engaged insignificantly fewer sexual risk-takingbehaviors than their Caribbean femalecounterparts. No significant cultural groupdifferences emerged on attitudes towardHIV/AIDS as a disease, HIV infected persons,and AIDS-related issues. A number ofsignificant correlations were found. The studyconcludes that HIV/AIDS counseling andprevention approaches that are ethnic,cultural, and gender appropriate are vital forincreasing both cognitive and behavioralchanges in culturally diverse young women.     

Moral Development,HIV/AIDS Knowledge,and Attitude toward HIV/AIDS among Counseling Students in the United States

People living with HIV/AIDS will likely require services from mental health professionals to address the complex psychosocial effects of the illness. In the United States, counseling students are not likely to be well prepared to serve clients affected by HIV/AIDS, and little is known about their HIV-related knowledge and attitudes. The present study assessed the moral development, HIV/AIDS knowledge, and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among a national sample of counseling students in the United States. Results indicated that students held biases toward people living with HIV/AIDS and that their attitudes toward HIV/AIDS were inversely related to their level of moral development.     

Globalization,public policy,and ‘knowledge gap’: Ethiopian youth and the HIV/AIDS pandemic

Set against trans‐ or supra‐national policy initiatives which have framed the HIV/AIDS pandemic as in part a pedagogical issue, this paper critically explores local understandings of sexual practices (generally) as well as of HIV/AIDS (more specifically) among young people in the sub‐Saharan African country of Ethiopia. Ethiopia has the third largest number of HIV/AIDS infections in the world, behind only South Africa and India. Like many countries dealing with this pandemic, the Ethiopian government has articulated its response to a broader set of global presses, including those around information and education. Such responses, we will argue, are helpful but have important limitations. As this study shows, knowledge about safer sex practices and the dangers of HIV/AIDS are by now well known among many Ethiopian youth. Yet, this knowledge does not always effect behavioral change. Taking condom use as a key exemplar, we will look at how Ethiopian youth narrate their own sexual experiences, conduct, and practices. Deeply informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu, we look to open new ‘thinking tools’ for a range of actors addressing this global pandemic in situated contexts. In particular, we challenge the ‘pedagogical subject’ – a subject lacking key information – interpolated into many of these policies. We highlight, instead, new disjunctures between emergent discourses around sex and sexuality as well as long‐standing, conservative attitudes toward gender.     

Building Scientific Literacy in HIV/AIDS Education: A case study of Uganda

The term scientific literacy is defined differently in different contexts. The term literacy simply refers to the ability for one to read and write, but recent studies in language literacy have extended this definition. New literacy research seeks a redefinition in terms of how skills are used rather than how they are learned. Contemporary perspectives on literacy as a transfer of learned skills into daily life practises capture the understanding of what it means to be scientifically literate. Scientific literacy requires students to be able to use their scientific knowledge independently in the everyday world. Some models for teaching towards scientific literacy have been suggested including inquiry‐based learning embedded in constructivist epistemologies. The inquiry‐based model is posited to be effective at bringing about in‐depth understanding of scientific concepts through engaging students’ preconceptions. In order to establish whether directly engaging students’ preconceptions can lead to in‐depth understanding of the science of HIV/AIDS, a case study was designed to elucidate students’ prior knowledge. From questionnaires and classroom observations, Ugandan Grade 11 students’ persistent preconceptions were explored in follow‐up focus group discussions. The inquiry process was used to engage students with their own perceptions of HIV/AIDS during the focus group discussions. Findings suggest that students need to dialogue with each other as they reflect on their beliefs about HIV/AIDS. Dialogue enabled students to challenge their beliefs while making connections between ‘school’ and ‘home’ knowledge.     

对在校大学生艾滋病宣传教育效果的调查研究

随着艾滋病在我国的蔓延,经性传播感染艾滋病病毒的高学历人群比例显著增加,在校大学生应该成为预防艾滋病重点人群.本文通过对广东6所高校在校大学生的问卷调查发现:在校大学生的艾滋病相关知识认知度偏低,艾滋病相关态度较为积极,艾滋病相关行为风险性较高;同时由于在校大学生对艾滋病的知识与态度具有显著相关性,且不同的宣传途径对相关的知识、态度、行为的影响不同;因此艾滋病预防教育需要学校、媒体、社会等多方面的配合,政府在其中应起协调和促进作用.     

Managing Risk and Experiencing Danger: tensions between government AIDS education policy and young women's sexuality

Much of the early panic relating to AIDS has focused on non‐heterosexual sexualities and the identification of high risk groups. It can be argued that fear of the spread of HIV and AIDS into the heterosexual population was the spur for the development of government policy in this area. The protection of the population in general depends on changes in high risk sexual practices, and the part played in these changes by young women has been given scant attention. We argue here that the sexual knowledge and practice of young women are crucial factors in the spread of HIV and AIDS, and that information on these factors is limited and interpreted within a framework of patriarchal ideology which obscures the power relations embedded in sexual relations. These issues are discussed using data from an investigation of young women's sexual beliefs and behaviour (the Women Risk and AIDS Project — WRAP) in relation to government AIDS education campaigns.

     

HIV/AIDS educators: The challenges and issues for Namibian bachelor of education students

The Life Skills course is offered to Namibian students in grades eight through twelve. It includes lessons on HIV/AIDS, imparting information and equipping them with the necessary psycho-social skills to assist in reducing the risk of becoming infected. Teachers are the impetus for the success of the course. As such, research was undertaken to understand the knowledge, attitudes, and concerns of Namibian Bachelor of Education students in order to be effective HIV/AIDS educators. Findings determine a gap in knowledge about HIV/AIDS-related issues. Moreover, many students indicated reluctance and a lack of self-efficacy to properly implement HIV/AIDS education.     

Risky Business: South African youths and HIV/AIDS prevention

Behavior change is the only available means of curtailing new HIV infections in South Africa. This study investigated the relationship between sexual risk taking and attitudes to AIDS precautions. The participants were about 25% white, about 30% colored/mixed blood and 45% black in their second year in polytechnics (413 females and 402 males). Participants responded to the 40-item HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Data indicated that young women showed more positive attitudes to AIDS precautions than young men (reflecting in part the stereotypic negative attitudes of young men toward condoms). In general, most males and females were found to have less knowledge about HIV transmission and less favorable attitudes toward safe sex behavior than their counterparts in the west. Also young men with more partners expressed more fatalistic attitudes toward AIDS. The possibility that a finergrained multivariate analysis of attitudes to AIDS and safe-sex behaviour is something that needs to be taken seriously in future research, however.     

健康与污名——一项关于高校学生针对艾滋病患者态度的定量研究

自1985年我国发现第一例艾滋病病例以来,艾滋病患者长期处于社会排斥与社会隔离之中,他们饱受歧视与压抑,成为丧失部分权利和地位的"身份受损"群体——污名群体.本研究对北京市某高校部分学生进行了抽样调查,认为对艾滋病知识的掌握、成长阶段以及影响性知识、艾滋病知识获取的主客观因素显著干预高校学生对于艾滋病患者的态度,并指出艾滋病的"内部可控性"和"消极符号化含义"对延续艾滋病患者群体污名化处境具有负面作用.     

HIV/AIDS knowledge and information sources among deaf and hearing college students

A sample of 34 deaf undergraduate college students at Gallaudet University and 46 hearing undergraduate college students at the University of Maryland Baltimore County completed a questionnaire that asked about their knowledge and sources of information concerning the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). The deaf students had significantly lower scores on an "HIV/AIDS Knowledge Index" than the hearing students. This difference could not be explained by the deaf students' gender, class standing, family structure, or father's or mother's education level. The deaf students obtained more of their information about HIV/AIDS from family and friends than the hearing students, who relied to a greater extent on teachers, television, and reading material. The interpersonal sources used by the deaf students are more prone to factual errors than formal sources. Deaf students need methods of educating themselves about HIV/AIDS that are more accurate and that recognize the importance of sources as well as the content of information.     

Child abuse and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behavior among adolescents in Zambia

OBJECTIVE: To research the correlation between physical and sexual abuse by family members and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and behavior among urban and rural adolescents in Zambia. SAMPLE: The sample comprises 3,360 adolescents, aged 10-19, from urban and rural Zambia; 2,160 of them attended school, while 1,200 of them did not. MEASURES: Standardized scales were utilized to assess AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. In addition, the adolescents reported the extent of their engagement in various high-risk behaviors and their lifetime experience of being sexually or physically abused. RESULTS: As the level of abuse experienced by the adolescents increased, their level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS, tendency to hold positive attitudes toward prevention, and level of self-efficacy regarding HIV/AIDS prevention decreased. Most importantly, when controlling for socio-demographic variables, findings indicate that past abuse was a key factor predicting participation in high-risk behaviors associated with HIV infection. CONCLUSION: Physical and sexual abuse of adolescents in Zambia is significantly related to HIV risk behaviors. Future studies should investigate which factors mediate between the experience of abuse and the tendency to engage in risky behaviors.     

Assessing Student Attitudes Toward Sexual Assault by Using a Mock Trial

Despite the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, college students’ views regarding rape continue to be an understudied area. Using criminal justice and sociology students who either attended a mock sexual assault trial or viewed the trial video in their class, this study examined students’ attitudes toward rape and rape myth acceptance. Surveys assessed what students believed the verdict should be and why, along with questions surrounding rape myths and beliefs regarding women. Results indicate that female students were more likely to find the defendant guilty. None of the attitudinal variables or plans to work in the criminal justice system, however, had an effect on the verdict. Multiple factors such as gender, race, and hostility toward women influenced attitudes regarding rape myths. These findings suggest that attitudes may be less important when determining sexual assault defendants’ guilt than the facts of the case. Policy implications are discussed.     

“Where Your Ethnic Kids Go”: How Counselors as First Responders Legitimate Proper Course Placements for Community College Students

ABSTRACT

Previous research on remediation has examined course placement practices, but little is known about first responders and how their beliefs about proper course placements help maintain patterns in course access. This study examined how taken-for-granted racial beliefs were used as legitimate knowledge by community college counselors. Haney López’s (2000) race as commonsense theoretical perspective was used to analyze interview data from 34 counselors in 2 southern California community colleges. Data showed that counselors recreated race categories and racial hierarchy, and they did so by reinforcing beliefs about white students as intelligent and deserving higher placements and Latina/o students as comparatively lower in ability and deserving remediation. The results suggest that counselors begin institutionalizing racial sorting immediately as first-time students begin to enroll. The findings highlight the importance of racial mindfulness in policy, practice, and research.     

AIDS Prevention for Adolescents at Risk

This paper describes a training program aimed at preparing 14 MSW students to teach AIDS prevention to adolescents at risk of HIV infection (i.e., increase knowledge, alter attitudes and teach risk-reduction behaviors). The majority of the students perceived this training not only as helpful in preparing them for the task at hand, but also in improving their overall social work skills and their chances to get a social work job in the future. In this paper, we also discuss problems related to AIDS prevention that arose during the training, such as rape and risk-reduction precautions and whether or not AIDS counselors should recommend taking the AIDS test.     

Information about human sexuality: sources,satisfaction, and perceived knowledge among college students

This study explored how 333 undergraduate and graduate students attending a large university in the southeastern USA learned about sex, their satisfaction with how they learned about sex, and their self-perceived knowledge before and after taking a human sexuality course. An anonymous, voluntary survey was administered to students in the first and last sessions of human sexuality classes each semester from fall 2004 until spring 2006. Standardized measures included how students learned about sex, satisfaction with ways they learned about sex, barriers to parent–child discussions, and self-perceived knowledge about sex. Although 67% of students indicated parents should be instrumental in sex education, only 15% indicated parents as a primary source. Thirty-seven percent reported some level of dissatisfaction with how they learned about sex. Self-perceived knowledge increased significantly following the course. College courses addressing sexuality as integral to human development should complement college programming that focuses on risk reduction for sexually transmitted diseases/infections, sexual assault, and unintended pregnancy.     

Mississippi college students’ attitudes,willingness to intervene and legal knowledge toward sexual assault

Sexual assault on college campuses has been a longstanding problem in the USA. Unfortunately, relatively little has been done to look at the characteristics of these attacks and how they might relate to knowledge of sexual assault policies, participation in sex education courses, beliefs toward sexual violence, and willingness to intervene if an attempted assault is observed. In response to this need, data were collected from college students from four universities in the state of Mississippi. A request to participate in an online, anonymous questionnaire was sent through email and listservs, and a total of 4,994 undergraduate students completed the survey. A significant relationship was found between men’s sexual attitudes and understanding of legal terms and their willingness to intervene if a sexual assault occurred; less legal knowledge and higher rape myth attitudes reduced their probability of being willing to intervene. Conversely, students who had received education at college on how to prevent a sexual assault from occurring were significantly to report being willing to intervene.     

Early, late and non-participants in sexual intercourse: A profile of black South African first-year university students

This study investigated the differences among early-, late-and non-participants in sexual intercourse. 1817 first-year black South African university students completed a structured questionnaire, which tapped their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices about sexuality. The results revealed significant differences among the three groups with regard to their sources of sexual knowledge, approval of pre-marital sex, first intercourse partner relationship, number of sexual partners, contraceptive use, satisfaction with first sexual intercourse and parental communication about contraception.     

高校HIV/AIDS健康教育的意义与方法

了解高校HIV／AIDS健康教育的意义,掌握具体的教学方法,加强在大学生人群中开展HIV／AIDS知识的宣传,发挥大学生在HIV／AIDS防治工作中的作用,对控制AIDS的流行具有重要的现实意义。