HIV/AIDS education in schools evaluation

32 Pages·1991·4.6 MB·English

by  Doherty-Poirier, Maryanne

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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016
https://archive.org/details/hivaidseducation03dohe
CANAD1ANA
HIV/ AIDS EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
EVALUATION:
GRADE 9 S TUDENT PROFILE
SERIES REPORT: 3
by
Brenda Munro, Ph. D. and Maryanne Doherty-Poirier, Ph. D.
Department of Family Studies
Faculty of Home Economics
University of Alberta
for
Alberta Health
Edmonton, Alberta
July, 1992
Copies of the following publications
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Research Report , S eries Report: 1
ISBN 0-77 32-1044-X
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Summary Report
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Teacher Profile, Series Report: 2
ISBN 0-7732-1045-8
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Grade 9 S tudent Profile, Series Report: 3
ISBN 0-7732-1046-6
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Grade 11 Student Profile, Series Report: 4
ISBN 0-7732-1047-4
and the set of all the reports:
HIV/AIDS Education in Schools Evaluation:
Series Report 1-4
ISBN 0-7732-1048-2
can be ordered, at no charge, from:
The Provincial AIDS Program
Alberta Health
7th Floor, 10030 - 107 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 3E4
Phone (403) 427-0836
Fax (403) 422-6663
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Methodology 2
Descriptors 3
Discussion 4
How Informed Students Think They are About Prevention of HIV/AIDS 4
Discussion 4
How Students Rate the Job That Different Sources
are Doing in Informing Them About HIV/AIDS and its Prevention 5
Discussion 5
Where Students Would First Go for Help if
They Thought They had Contracted the AIDS Virus or Another STD 6
Discussion 6
Summary 7
HIV/AIDS Knowledge Scores 8
Discussion 8
HIV/AIDS-Related Attitude Scores ...11
Discussion 12
Student Perception of Transmission and Prevention of HIV/AIDS 12
Discussion 13
Findings Regarding Condoms 14
Discussion 15
Summary 15
Use and Evaluation of Student Print Resources 16
AIDS: What Young Adults Should Know 16
AIDS: The Choices and Chances 17
Discussion 18
Use and Evaluation of Student Audio-Visual Resources 18
Discussion 18
Summary ..18
Conclusion 19
Selected References 20
Acknowledgments 22
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Percentage of Grade 9 S tudents and Teachers Answering
Knowledge Questions Correctly 9
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Gender Distribution of Grade 9 S tudents 3
Figure 2: Number of FCV/AIDS Classes Grade 9 S tudents
Have Received Over the Last Year and the Last 2 Y ears 3
Figure 3: How Well Informed do Grade 9 S tudents Feel About HIV/AIDS? 4
Figure 4: Student Perceptions of the Job Various
Sources Do of Informing About HIV/AIDS 5
Figure 5: Where Students Would First Go for Help if They
Thought They had FIIV/AIDS or Another STD 6
Figure 6: Attitudes of Post-Treatment and
Post-Control Students on HIV/AIDS Issues 11
Figure 7: Grade 9 S tudents' Perceptions of Common Ways that
People Become Infected with the HIV/AIDS Virus 12
Figure 8: Grade 9 S tudents' Perceptions of the Single Most Important
Thing to Prevent the Spread of HIV/AIDS Among Young People 13
Figure 9: Student Perspectives on Condoms 14
Figure 10: Reasons Why a S mall Proportion of Students Would Not Use Condoms 14
Figure 11: Student Ratings of Print Resources 17
Figure 12: According to Grade 9 S tudents,
How Informative are Audio-Visual Resources 18
Introduction was also related to a significantly more positive
view of their predicted future behaviour. However,
the predicted future behaviour of grade 9 s tudents
Preparation for the HIV/AIDS Education In
did not change as a result of HIV/AIDS instruction.
Schools Evaluation Project began in the fall of 1988.
The research was carried out with the advice of the Possible reasons for this lack of change are discussed
in Report 1 .
Working Group on HIV/AIDS Education in the
Schools, which included membership from Alberta In 1992, the report entitled HIV/AIDS Education
Health, Alberta Education, schools, health units, in Schools Evaluation: Teacher Profile, Series Report 2
and community HIV/AIDS organizations. The was written with a f ocus on the information pro-
project was funded by Alberta Health. The initial vided by t eachers who participated in the study.
design for the project was developed in the fall of
This paper provides a d etailed profile of the grade
1988, and during 1989 the research design, research
9 s tudents who participated in the study. It covers:
questions, sample selection procedures, research in-
struments with accompanying letters, and project 1) Descriptors
plan were prepared. The data collection was com-
2) How informed students think they are about pre-
pleted in t he spring of 1990 by Dr. Lome Seaman vention of H IV/AIDS
and analysis of the information was conducted by
Drs. Munro and Doherty-Poirier in 1991. 3) How students rate the job that different sources
are doing in informing them about HIV/AIDS
The study that provided the data described here
and its p revention
is discussed in detail in HIV/AIDS Education in
Schools Evaluation, Research Report: Series Report 1. 4) Where students would first go for help if they
Extensive information is p rovided about what the thought they had contracted the AIDS virus or
another STD
grade 9 and 11 students who participated in the
study had learned and about other aspects of HIV/
5) Knowledge scores
AIDS education.
6) Attitude scores
In this study, two major research questions were
asked: 8) Student perceptions of transmission and preven-
tion of H IV/AIDS
1) What are the effects of HIV/AIDS instructional
7) Findings regarding condoms
strategies on knowledge and attitudes, includ-
ing intentions about future behaviour, of junior 8) Use and evaluation of student print resources
and senior high school students?
9) Use and evaluation of student audio-visual re-
2) What are the effects of supporting HIV/AIDS in- sources.
struction with specific print student learning re-
sources on k nowledge and attitudes, including
intentions about future behaviour, of j unior and
senior high school students?
Grades 9 and 11 students who received HIV/
AIDS instruction had significantly higher levels of
knowledge and more positive attitudes than they
did prior to instruction. Their knowledge and atti-
tude scores were also significantly higher than those
of students who did not receive instruction. For
grade 11 students, receiving HIV/AIDS instruction
1
Methodology
The procedures and methods for this study are
discussed in detail in the research report, HIV/AIDS
Education in Schools Evaluation: Research Report: Se-
ries Report: 1.
The design of the study was quasi-experimental.
It consisted of information collected from four
groups of students which were: pre-treatment, pre-
control, post-treatment, post-control. The pre-treat-
ment and pre-control groups completed pre-test
questionnaires, whereas the post-treatment and
post-control groups completed post-test question-
naires. The essential difference between the control
and treatment groups was the timing of the HIV/
AIDS instruction. The treatment group had HIV/
AIDS instruction before the post-test and the con-
trol group had instruction after the post-test.
Students in the pre-control and pre-treatment
groups were assumed for the most part to be the
same students as the ones in the post-control and
post-treatment groups, as they were in the same
classes. However, individual students were not
identified either pre or post, to ensure confidential-
ity.
Throughout this paper, the group of students
who are being discussed are the post-treatment stu-
dents only, unless otherwise indicated.
The sample size is 620 post-control, 1,233 pre-
treatment, and 9 49 post- treatment grade 9 s tudents.
There were 65 grade 9 c lasses.
The statistical analyses used were Pearson r c or-
relation, t-tests, one way-analysis of variance, and
chi square. The specific test utilized in each analysis
is noted in a f ootnote where appropriate. The alpha
level of significant set for the analyses was .05.
Scores on knowledge and attitudes are used in
this study. Higher knowledge scores reflect a h igher
level of knowledge. A h igher attitude score reflects
more tolerant attitudes towards, for example,
people with HIV/AIDS, education on HIV/AIDS and
condom use.
2
Descriptors • Post-treatment students said they had received
between 1 a nd 40 classes on HIV/AIDS over the
• In the pre-control group, there were 48% female past two years.
students and 52% male students. The post-con- • Most students said they had received between 6
trol group was made up of 49% females and 51% and 10 classes on HIV/AIDS in the past two years,
males.
with the mean number of classes being 7.8 classes.
• There were 49% female and 51% male students
in the pre-treatment group and 50% of each of Figure 2: Number of HIV/AIDS Classes Grade 9
Students Have Received Over the Last Year and
female and male students in the post-treatment
the Last 2 Y ears
group.
Figure 1: Gender Distribution of Grade 9
Students
Number of Students
• The grade 9 s tudents ranged from 13 to 16 years
0 10 20 30
of age.
Percentage of Students
• 56% of the students came from urban schools
(41% metropolitan and 15% urban) and 44% came
• After the pre-test and prior to the post-test, a
from rural schools (35% of Alberta junior high
students are rural). program on HIV/AIDS, "Talkin' About AIDS"
was broadcast on national television during
• Post-treatment students said that in the last year prime time. 24% of the post-treatment group and
they had received between 1 and 26 classes on 21% of the post-control group watched the CBC
HIV/AIDS. broadcast. This television show was a p ossible
intervening variable in the study.
• Most of the students said that they had received
between 2 and 5 c lasses over the past year on
HIV/AIDS.
Discussion How Informed Students
HIV/AIDS instruction was offered in control and Think They Are About
treatment classes that had almost identical gender Prevention of HIV/AIDS
distribution or the same percentage of female and
male students. Differences between pre and post
• After HIV/AIDS instruction 56% of students felt
numbers of students were the result of classes drop-
very well informed and 40% of students felt fairly
ping out of the study and/or routine absences.
informed about what they could do to prevent
Students were drawn from both rural and urban
contracting the AIDS virus. Almost all (96%) of
populations. The proportion of students represent- the students felt they were fairly or very well
ing the rural population was slightly higher than informed.
the proportion in the actual population.
• Less than 1% felt not at all informed and 3% felt
Most of the students in the grade 9 s ample were not too well informed.
14 or 15 years of age. These are the ages that one
would expect to dominate a sample of grade 9 s tu-
Figure 3: How Well Informed Do Grade 9
dents.
Students Feel About HIV/AIDS?
Students felt that they had received HIV/AIDS
education prior to the grade 9 HIV/AIDS instruc- i0/ ■ Not at all Informed
3% S3 Not too Well Informed
tion. The issue of HIV/AIDS may have been dis-
cussed in o ther courses. However, the estimated
number of classes in which HIV/AIDS was a p art
seems to be inflated by some students (e.jjf/'S^) or
more classes). This may be a r esult of students count-
ing classes in all courses (e.g., social studies, sci-
ence) where the issue of HIV/AIDS was discussed
in passing in relation to relevant issues.
Discussion
It is p ossible that the small percentage (4%) of
the students who felt they were not informed were
absent the day(s) that HIV/AIDS instruction was
offered or perhaps they didn't feel that the HIV/
AIDS issue was relevant for them.
4