The identification of community needs for AIDS health education

[摘要] English: AIDS is a fatal disease which mostly affects the economically productive age-group(25-50 years). It therefore adversely affects the economy of the country. It isalso expensive to treat as it affects the immune system of the body, therebyrendering the person critically ill and requiring intense and expensive nursing andmedical care.AIDS is also seen as a disease of attitude and behaviour, as it is closely associatedwith sexual behaviour, where a person has more than one sexual partner. Thispractice, in the form of polygamy (as seen today) and concubinage, is still acceptedas normal cultural practice in most black communities in spite of the effect ofsocial change on many tribal customs.There is a drastic increase in the number of persons infected with AIDS in spite ofexisting efforts to combat the disease. This increase is not specific to a particularracial group, country, community or town. It is a worldwide problem. However,most new cases of AIDS are found among the black population.Health education seems to be the only strategy available as a measure forcontrolling the spread of AIDS in the absence of a cure. There is therefore adefinite need to investigate the requirements for the development of a healtheducation program for the control of AIDS.The aim of this study was to identify the needs of the community for AIDS healtheducation. This entailed eliciting their perceptions of AIDS, establishing theirpreference regarding the AIDS educator, identifying topics/aspects to be addressedin the educational program, as well as establishing principles with which ethnicspecifichealth educational programs should comply to be acceptable to communities.Interviews were conducted with clients visiting health services In Mangaung.Trained fieldworkers were used to help with the implementation of the structuredinterview schedule. The data were analysed and the findings were compared anddiscussed in terms of the literature review. Reliability of the data collectioninstrument was ensured by training fieldworkers to ask questions correctly. Theconduction of a pilot study to identify possible problems and address these beforethe major study helped to ensure reliability. For the purpose of validity, theinterview schedule was submitted to experts in research. This ensured facevalidity. Content validity was ensured by submitting the measuring instrument to adomain expert. It was also handed to an expert working at the AIDS Training,Information and Counselling Centre (ATICC) for evaluation. These experts wereasked to evaluate the interview schedule in terms of whether the questions werecorrectly and objectively worded and whether they matched the objectives of thestudy. Conclusions and recommendations were made and guidelines, based onfindings, were set for the development of a health education program for thecontrol of AIDS.

[发布机构] University of the Free State