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Students get wise about AIDS - The acceptability, feasibility and impact of an AIDS education programme in a suburban school in Cape Town
Abstract
Objectives. The study assessed the acceptability and feasibility of an AIDS education programme for South African high-school students.
Design, setting and sUbjects. A 'before-after' study was conducted in a suburban high school in Cape Town. All 232 standard 8 students were included, and were exposed to the programme over 9 months.
Outcome measures. Students' knowledge about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (SIDs), attitudes towards people with AIDS and towards AIDS prevention, perceptions of self-efficacy with regard to risk reduction, self-reported behaviour and opinions on the programme were measured using questionnaires. In addition, teachers' opinions of and experiences with the programme were assessed.
Results. After the programme, significantly more students knew how to protect themselves from HIV, could identity the symptoms of STOs and understood why people with STOs had a higher risk of becoming infected with HIV. After the programme, significantly more students believed that they knew how to use a condom (77% at baseline, 88.6% at follow-up; P < 0.01). Prior to the programme only 20.8% of the students reported ever having had sexual intercourse. After the programme, significantly more students (32.8%) reported having had sexual intercourse. Most students (80.5%) reported that the programme had helped them to make plans to protect themselves from HIV infection. Teachers found the programme valuable and easy to use.
Conclusions. There are severaJ South African school programmes such as 'Get Wise about AIDS' which have been shown to be acceptable and feasible, and which seem to be effective. Randomised controlled trials are now needed to provide conclusive evidence of their effectiveness.
