The effect of a HIV/AIDS life skills programme on the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of grade nine learners

摘要

The first cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were reported in 1981 and in 1983 the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was identified. Today, over 40 million individuals globally are living with HIV/AIDS. As there is currently no cure for the disease, it is projected to reach pandemic proportions in the 21st century. In South Africa at the end of 2006, over 5.3 million individuals were living with HIV/AIDS, with affluent and educated South Africans showing the highest HIVprevalence growth rate. The HIV prevalence amongst 15 to 24 year old South Africans is 10.4 percent. It has become vital that youth receive education about HIV/AIDS as early as possible, to ensure that they do not contract the virus. Psycho-education seeks to teach psychological knowledge and skills to individuals. This is also known as life skills teaching. The National Departments of Health and Education have developed a life skills programme for schools. This programme aims to, amongst others; educate young people about HIV/AIDS. The effectiveness of this programme will be assessed in two schools in the Port Elizabeth area. In this exploratory descriptive, triangulation research study, a quasiexperimental, one group pre- and post-test design was used to assess the effectiveness of the life skills programme amongst 211 Grade nine middle to upper socio-economic group learners. Four focus groups were conducted after the programme to explore the learner’s attitudes and perceptions of HIV/AIDS and their experiences of the programme. Tesch’s model of content analysis and Guba’s model of trustworthiness were used to analyse the data obtained from the focus groups.