Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemLet's talk about sex : peer education and HIV prevention( 2000)Risk-taking is an integral part of being an adolescent, however there are serious negative consequences for risky sexual behaviour, and one of these is HIV infection. Research claims that two Americans under the age of 20 are infected with HIV every hour and most are infected through unprotected sex. Currently, there are more than 27,000 young people between 13 and 24 living with HIV and AIDS in the United States. Teaching safer sex remains the most effective method of preventing HIV infection in adolescents. Schools provide an obvious venue simply because this is where the majority of adolescents are. Although research suggests that most adults . in America support efforts to inform adolescents about HIV prevention, numerous policies impede sex and HIV/AIDS education in the classroom. School-based sex education continues to be part of a long standing, ongoing debate in the United States and this has been fuelled by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Given that a large percentage of young people are destined to be sexually active, it follows that they will need to know how to protect themselves. For HIV prevention programmes to be effective, the frank treatment of historically taboo topics is necessary and provokes additional controversy. Openly discussing the very fact that adolescents have sex at all is a political issue for many schools, let alone discussing condom use and different forms of sex. The perception of adolescents as problems and the discomfort adults often have toward adolescent sexuality creates major obstacles for prevention education. HIV prevention programmes aim to encourage individuals to adopt behaviours that will protect them from infection. Peer education uses individuals to act as role models and promote the adoption of healthy behaviours. Young adults can be effective peer educators because they understand youth culture, language, and behaviour better than adults do, because they are youth. Additionally, young people can have credibility with adolescents and be especially persuasive about adopting healthy behaviours if adolescents look up to them. As a strategy for instructing HIV prevention, peer education capitalises on the fact that peers have a strong influence on each others attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. Results from this study suggest that peer education is an effective strategy for teaching HIV prevention to adolescents in high school.
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ItemIdentifying effective strategies for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education within the homeless youth community( 1991)This study was designed to investigate the knowledge of homeless youth in relation to HIV/AIDS, opinions of effective anti AIDS education campaigns and education resources considered to be acceptable to their community. A control group who corresponded in age and gender to the sample population were also interviewed. The knowledge deficits identified in this study suggest that the past HIV/AIDS education campaigns have not provided practical knowledge to the sample population of this study. The sample population was not adequately aware of sexual and intravenous drug behaviours which would provide them with protection from the HIV. Knowledge of protective behaviours is essential if the rate of HIV transmission is to be reduced or eliminated. Effective education programs are the only weapon against the spread of this disease. Universal education campaigns must be replaced by programs which are community specific and acceptable. The recommendations which developed from this study have implications for many community education programs.