The Effect of an Educational Intervention on the Sexual Perceptions and Practices of Adolescents in Trinidad and Tobago

<p><strong>Background.</strong> Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is one of the fastest spreading infectious diseases in the Caribbean, and is second only to Sub-Sahara Africa in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases. Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost twin island republic in the Caribbean. In 1999, the 5^th leading cause of death among individuals ages 15-34 in Trinidad and Tobago was HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS (2006), the prevalence rate of HIV in Trinidad and Tobago is 2.6%.</p> <p><strong>Purpose. </strong>Currently, there is no standardized HIV/AIDS education program in secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Since HIV/AIDS is a health concern in Trinidad and Tobago and adolescents as young as 15 years of age have been infected the study was conducted to determine if providing adolescents with HIV/AIDS information will make them more aware of their susceptibility of becoming infected with HIV, and the severity of HIV. Additionally, I attempted to show that providing information about and demonstrating assertiveness skills regarding saying no to sexual advances will lead to an intention to delay sexual initiation.</p> <p><strong>Method.</strong> A quasi-experimental design was used with a treatment group (n=104) and a comparison group (n=92). The educational intervention was conducted once per week for the treatment and the comparison groups over 5 consecutive weeks, each session was 30-45 minutes in length. Participants completed a pre and post-test during the first and last sessions. Sessions 2-4 comprised the educational intervention. The health belief model (HBM) was used to develop the intervention and assess its impact among adolescents 11-18 years old in nine secondary schools throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Three of the five constructs of the HBM used to design the intervention were perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and self-efficacy. The treatment group received an interactive, instructor led intervention which included three areas of HIV education: (1) basic facts about HIV, (2) ways to decrease the spread of HIV, (3) and assertiveness skills. The comparison group watched 3 videos about HIV/AIDS.</p> <p><strong>Results.</strong>The participants in the treatment group were younger (13.4 years) than those in the comparison group (14.7 years) (p=<.001). At pre-test, the comparison groups had higher scores on the knowledge items than those in the comparison group (p=.009) and maintained higher scores at post-test controlling for age, gender, and pretest values (p=.001). At post-test controlling for age, gender, and pre-test values the treatment group were more likely to plan to delay sexual initiation (p=.006).</p> <p><strong>Conclusions.</strong>The students in the comparison group were on average older than the students in the comparison group. At post-test there was a decrease in the comparison group scores on the variables of attitudes toward abstinence and delaying sexual initiation. Overall, there was a positive direction of change for the treatment group on the variables that were measured including intention to delay initiation of sexual activity.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year

2009

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Vanessa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Naomi Modeste
• Helen Hopp Marshak
• Curtis Fox

• Infectious Disease
• Preventive Medicine
• Public Health Education and Promotion
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- prevention & control -- Trinidad and Tobago; HIV Infections -- prevention & control -- Trinidad and Tobago; Sexual Behavior -- in adolescence; Sex Education; Attitude to Health; Interpersonal Relations; Social Perception; Health Surveys.

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/895

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-2017