High School Health Education Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions Related to Teaching HIV Prevention

High School Health Education Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions Related to Teaching HIV Prevention
Author: Scott William Herr
Publisher:
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2011
Genre: HIV infections
ISBN:

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The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that significantly influence the attitudes and perceptions of high school health education teachers relative to HIV prevention instruction. Despite a steady decrease in the number of diagnosed cases each year, HIV/AIDS continues to rank as one of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States. Individuals between the ages of 13 and 19 years are particularly vulnerable for HIV transmission, as evidenced by the steady increase in the number of reported infections in this age group over the past decade. Underlying this trend is a growing lack of awareness, a decreasing perception of vulnerability and a general lack of accurate knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among adolescents and young adults in the United States. The CDC, along with a number of researchers in sexuality education, recommends that education about HIV prevention is most appropriate and effective when executed within the context of a comprehensive school health education program that establishes a foundation for understanding the relationships between personal behavior and health. While the CDC's 2006 School Health Policies and Practices study indicates that 31 states require instruction in HIV prevention, research indicates that there is great variability between states and individual districts in the provision of the requirements for the certification, licensure, and training in sexuality education of the teachers providing that instruction. The population of interest in this study was high school health education teachers in public school systems in the United States. A systematic random sample of 800 high school health education teachers representing states with mandates requiring instruction in HIV prevention and states with no such requirements was selected from a list of public high schools derived from the Common Core of Data (CCD) of the United States Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics database. An a priori power analysis, for external validity of the results, suggested a sample size of 374 completed surveys based on a 5% sampling error and 50/50 split in responses for a population of 11,250 schools. Sample size was determined based on alpha at .05, the effect size at .20 and 90% power. Based on response rates of studies with similar populations, a total of 800 surveys were sent to lead health education teachers in the selected high schools. Seventy-nine surveys were undeliverable, leaving a potential sample size of 721. A total of 362 high school health education teachers (50%) responded. While there is almost complete agreement (99%) among respondents in this study that HIV prevention instruction is needed, the results of this study indicate that there is significant variance in outcome expectations, efficacy expectations, perceived barriers and benefits, and attitudes of high school health education teachers about teaching HIV prevention. The factors in this study that emerged as most significantly influencing the attitudes and perceptions of high school health education teachers about teaching HIV prevention were related primarily to teacher preparation and training and the number of years of experience teachers had teaching health education. The presence of a state mandate requiring HIV prevention instruction was significantly associated with higher efficacy expectations and more perceived benefits by high school health education teachers, but did not appear to have significant influence in relation to practices in the classroom. Characteristics of high school health education teachers that were significantly related to attitudes, perceptions and instructional practices included the age, gender and race/ethnicity of the instructor. The findings of this study are consistent with and affirm findings from previous studies that have emphasized the significance of teacher preparation and training relative to teachers' perceptions, attitudes, perceived benefits and barriers, and efficacy and outcome expectations, which ultimately influence student outcomes. Findings from this study also indicate the need to further investigate certain teacher characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, age, experience level, and gender to determine the extent that those variables may influence curricular content and instruction.

Humanizing Pedagogy Through HIV and AIDS Prevention

Humanizing Pedagogy Through HIV and AIDS Prevention
Author: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2015-12-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 131725791X

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This book explores the power of educators to serve as HIV and AIDS prevention agents. The definitive text represents the work of a distinguished panel of teacher educators and health scientists who identify core information and skills effective educators of HIV and AIDS prevention should learn as they are prepared to attend to the academic and human needs of students. It assigns to teachers, in the US and abroad, the novel role of prevention agents, given their extraordinary ability to access and affect young people -- to influence their behavior. Humanizing Pedagogy considers the social, economic, racial, gender and other variables that impact the prevention of HIV and AIDS. The authors collectively assert that the process of preventing HIV and AIDS, when it considers historic and social context, can compel educators to serve not only as practitioners of knowledge, but as community agents of health and well being. Attending to HIV and AIDS issues advances the capacity and ability of educators to see and attend to the complete learner. Humanizing Pedagogy is a single volume resource for educators, in the US and abroad, interested in attending to the whole needs of the learner-and saving lives.

HIV and AIDS, Communication, and Secondary Education in Kenya

HIV and AIDS, Communication, and Secondary Education in Kenya
Author: Ndeti Ndati
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9966040285

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The study offers research into the efficacy of HIV and AIDS communication strategies for adolescents, especially with regards to selected secondary schools in Kenya. The study is a useful point of reference to both Kenyan researchers into HIV and AIDS as well as international scholars exploring Africanist perspectives of the socio-cultural dimensions of the pandemic.

Coping with HIV/AIDS in Education

Coping with HIV/AIDS in Education
Author: Magdallen N. Juma
Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2001
Genre: AIDS (Disease)
ISBN: 9780850926675

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Assesses the impact of HIV/AIDS on education and the various mechanisms set up to address the challenge of the epidemic.

HIV/AIDS Education in Kenya: an Evaluation of Policy, Provision and Practice in Secondary Schools

HIV/AIDS Education in Kenya: an Evaluation of Policy, Provision and Practice in Secondary Schools
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

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One of the key responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis has been the provision of School- based HIV/AIDS education, to try and improve teenagers ability to make wise and sensible decisions regarding their behaviours. The interventions have been premised on links between education and behaviour, the underlying assumption being that teaching young people how to protect themselves from HIV can lead to a reduction in risk behaviour and hence a reduction in HIV incidence (UNAIDS, 1997). An important part of this process has been the development of an education sector policy on HIV and AIDS, aimed at implementing and effecting, among others, the policy goal of Prevention. This study, with the use of a systems theory as a theoretical framework, examines the policy, provision and practice of HIV/AIDS education in secondary schools in Kenya with the view to informing policy and providing options for re-designing and scaling up (if necessary) the HIV/AIDS program. A methodology combining literature review, semi- structured interviews and a school survey was adopted. The school survey covered students, teachers and Head teachers; while the semi structured interviews covered policy makers. Results revealed that there are discordances between national HIV/AIDS policy rhetoric and school realities. There is a general failure of schools to implement the type of detailed HIV/AIDS policy described despite the fact that the demand is high. Although there are merits that the study did not cover a wide enough population to warrant the generalizations it makes, the research findings and recommendations that do exist from previous investigations largely confirm rather than refute these results.

Experiences of Educators in Managing the Implementation of School-based HIV/AIDS Policy in Limpopo Province

Experiences of Educators in Managing the Implementation of School-based HIV/AIDS Policy in Limpopo Province
Author: Solomon Nzama Rikhotso
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2016
Genre: AIDS (Disease)
ISBN:

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The purpose of this study was to explore the views of principals and educators regarding the impact of HIV/AIDS in their schools; to identify the aspects of the National Policy related to HIV/AIDS that are relevant to the management of school-based HIV/AIDS policy in selected schools; to determine how school-based HIV/AIDS policy is implemented in those schools, to explore how principals and educators experience the management of the implementation of school-based HIV /AIDS policy; and to identify the challenges experienced by the principals and the educators as well as the strategies they use in implementing school-based HIV/AIDS policy. The main research question was: What are the experiences of principals and educators in the management of school-based HIV/AIDS policy implementation? The study focused on four high schools in the Klein Letaba Circuit in the district of Mopani in Limpopo Province. In order to investigate the experiences of educators and their views about present-day HIV/AIDS school-based policies and their implementation, the researcher used a qualitative research approach that is phenomenological in nature. The research design was a multi-site case study involving two participants from each of the four selected schools; a total of eight participants were involved in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select a principal and one Life Orientation educator from each of the schools. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis formed part of the data collection process. The findings of the study revealed that the management of school-based HIV/AIDS implementation is a challenge in schools in the Klein Letaba Circuit. The researcher found that HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on learners' abilities to attend school; on effective teaching and learning; the performance of learners; the behaviour of orphaned learners; and the responsibilities of educators. The study further revealed that schools included factors, such as discrimination, admission, voluntary testing, the exemption of compulsory school attendance for learners with ill-health and learner safety during sporting activities in their school-based policies. In terms of the implementation of school-based HIV/AIDS policy, the study revealed that all stakeholders need to know the contents of the policy, and be involved in its formulation and implementation. Life orientation and classroom rules support for affected learners and Health Advisory Committees may be used to communicate information about HIV/AIDS. The study also revealed that awareness; respect; trust; talking openly about HIV/AIDS; the involvement of the wider community in managing HIV/AIDS; and increasing the knowledge of educators on issue related to HIV/AIDS are strategies that work well in managing the implementation of HIV/AIDS policy. The study identified ignorance; denial; lack of awareness; and educators' extra workloads as challenges which hinder the effective implementation of a school-based HIV/AIDS policy.