Lessons from an STD/HIV preventive education project among Jamaican teenagers - abstract

Between August 1993 and June 1994, a project in teenage peer-to-peer education for HIV/AIDS and STD prevention was run in 20 school-based Red Cross clubs in Jamaica. First, 23 teenagers (21 girls and 2 boys) were trained to do small group teaching using lectures, story;-telling, games, and role-play. They in turn, taught approximately 100 learners from eleven (11) "intervention" clubs. Approximately 100 teenagers from nine other schools served as controls. The syllabus encompassed information about HIV/AIDS and STDs, options for prevention, reinforcement of social skills including decision-making, and practice in placing condoms on an artificial penis. Adults designed the curriculum and trained the peer educators but only participated in the peer-to-peer sessions for brief periods at the teenagers' request. Evaluation of the project was done by direct observation of some sessions, key informant interviews, focus group discussion and pre-and post-education questionnaires. The training programme helped to improve knowledge concerning the link between other STDs and HIV infection and the increased risk of contracting STDs when under the influence of alcohol or cocaine. Some teenagers confessed shyness to handle condoms even after learning. Participants reported that they (a) were challenged to improve their attitudes toward persosns with HIV/AIDS and (b) saw more clearly the relevance of practising safer sex and the need to actually adopt safer sex benefit from the project. This peer-to-peer approach was judged to be effective enough to be offered outside of Red Cross clubs (AU)

Factors in the home environment which influence sexual knowledge and sexual activity among pre-adolescents in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica - implications for prevention of HIV infection - abstract

Children and adolescents are an important target group for primary prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but information about their sexual knowledge and behaviour is sketchy. We therefore undertook a study of 518 school children, aged 8 to 12 years, in 15 schools, using a multi-stage sampling method. We used a structured questionnaire to enquire about living arrangements, relationships with parents and guardians, knowledge about sex and sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual experiences. We analysed correlations between the variables. There was a higher level of reported sexual activity among children when: (a) a sibling (instead of the other parent or another adult) was the substitute care-giver while the parent(s) travelled away from home (relative risk (RR) = 3.98; p<0.001); (b) the children were not occupied with home-work or household chores after school (RR=2.0, p=0.01); (c) they shared sleeping facilities instead of sleeping in their own bed (RR=1.86, p=0.01); (d) they could visit neighbours or friends without requiring parents' or guardians' permission (RR = 2.40, 2.75, respectively; p=<0.001, 0.0001, respectively). Travelling patterns of parents per se did not influence level of sexual activity of their children (RR = 0.83 (95 percent confidence interval 0.51 - 1.75, p = 0.45). One hundred and fifty-seven children (31 percent) said that they had first learnt about sex through television, while 62 (12 percent) had learnt first from a parent. Four hundred and thirty-nine children (86 percent) had heard about AIDs from some source, although the information was not always clear or accurate in their minds. Two hundred and eight-five children (56 percent) said they would like their parents to teach them about sex, while 220 (43 percent) suggested that parents teach them about Sexually Transmitted Diseases. This study is part of an on-going project aimed at designing an educational intervention programme for parents and children (AU)