HIV prevention issues for deaf and hard of hearing adolescents : views of parents, teachers, adolescents and organizations serving the deaf community

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Disabled adolescents are vulnerable to HIV infection particularly in countries like South Africawhich has one of the largest HIV epidemics in the world. Like able-bodied adolescents,adolescents with disabilities are at a critical stage of their psychosocial and sexual development.They may be at risk of sexual abuse as perpetrators may believe that they are incapable ofdefending themselves or reporting the crime to the authorities. Deaf or hard of hearingadolescents are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to similar risk factors to other disabled adolescents.They also face difficulties in communicating with hearing people and receiving information insign language, and they share characteristics with minority ethnic groups, which make them hardto reach for HIV prevention campaigns. There is a paucity of research in South Africainvestigating the role of schools for Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents in deliveringappropriate HIV and sexuality education to their learners. This thesis is an exploratory study andinvestigates HIV prevention issues for Deaf or hard of hearing adolescents in South Africa. Morespecifically, I aim to determine the ways in which participants believe schools, health systemsand other organizations contribute or fail to contribute to the HIV/AIDS prevention needs ofDeaf and hard of hearing adolescents. The study includes qualitative interviews with employeesof Deaf organizations, educators of Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents, parents of Deaf andhard of hearing adolescents and Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents themselves in relation tosexuality and HIV related issues. Results indicate that Deaf organizations have an interest in theHIV prevention needs of the Deaf community and in Deaf schools. However they haveexperienced obstacles in delivering HIV education to learners. These obstacles includecommunication barriers as well as the fact that religious environments in some of the schoolsmay not always be experienced as conducive to HIV education. Although all educators of Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents interviewed in the previous phase of the study were aware thattheir learners are at risk of HIV/AIDS, some educators of Deaf and hard of hearing adolescentswere constrained by the same issues of morality and religious conviction discussed in the firstphase. Some participants had made efforts to produce appropriate HIV and sexuality materialsfor Deaf learners. Parents of Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents were affected bycommunication barriers with their children but seemed unaware of the religious ethos of many ofthe schools their children attended. The Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents knew they could beat risk of HIV/AIDS. Some displayed poor knowledge of HIV transmission. There are a numberof issues to be addressed if schools for Deaf and hard of hearing learners are to provide adequateHIV/AIDS prevention information to their learners.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University