HIV/AIDS AND SOUTH AFRICAN ADOLESCENTS: ATTITUDES AND INFORMATION NEEDS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15270/39-1-380Abstract
HIV/AIDS is by far the most serious health hazard of our time and by far the biggest current crisis in South Africa. Prevention of the disease by way of communicating correct knowledge and information, in order to change individuals’ and communities’ attitudes and sexual behaviour, is of vital importance. This exploratory study utilised qualitative and quantitative methodology. A purposive, non-probability sampling technique was used to administer questionnaires to a sample of adolescents throughout the North West Province.The aim of the study was to assess attitudes and needs of information of high school pupils on various aspects of HIV/AIDS in order to draw up recommendations for a prospective programme to educate adolescents and to influence their attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. It was found that adolescents had an urgent need for more knowledge and information on sexuality and HIV/AIDS, that the idea of condoms has taken on with adolescents and that they have a fair to positive attitude on the problem.It is recommended that a programme be developed to educate adolescents about sexuality and HIV/AIDS in an objective and factual manner. Outsiders should be utilised to implement such a programme. Material and facilities like video’s, films, flip charts, books and posters, are indispensable in any such programme. It is vital to indigenise such a programme for use under South African circumstances. Not all schools have all the facilities to their disposal, and therefore the proposed programme should be adaptable to any circumstancesDownloads
References
BAILEY, KD 1994. Methods of social research. New York: The Free Press.
BARKER, RL 1997. The social work dictionary. Washington: NASW Press.
BEELD, 1998. 25 November. Johannesburg: South African Daily Newspaper.
BEELD, 1999. 11 August. Johannesburg: South African Daily Newspaper.
BEELD, 2000a. 24 March. Johannesburg: South African Daily Newspaper.
BEELD, 2000b. 14 January. Johannesburg: South African Daily Newspaper.
BERNSTEIN, AJ & VAN ROOYEN, CAJ 1994. Sociocultural factors and their importance in working with people with AIDS in South Africa. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 30(4):375-382.
COREY, G; COREY, MS & CALLANAN, P 1993. Issues and ethics in the helping professions. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
CORNELIUS, LJ; BATTLE, M; KRYDER-COE, JH & HU, D 1999. Interventions to developing community partnerships for HIV prevention planning: successful macro applications of social work principles. Journal of Community Practice, 6(1):15-32.
COUGHLAN, FJ; COUGHLAN, NS & JAMESON, CP 1996. Where knowledge and attitude separate: adolescent HIV/AIDS knowledge survey as information for social work training. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 32(3):255-261.
DE BRUYN, PJ 1990. VIGS en menslike gedrag: ‘n Teologies-etiese beoordeling. Koers, 55(3):357-375.
DE VOS, AS; STRYDOM, H; FOUCHE, CB; POGGENPOEL, M & SCHURINK, EW 1998. Research at grass roots: a primer for the caring professions. Pretoria: JL Van Schaik Academic.
FRASER-MOLEKETI, GJ 1999. Women in partnership against AIDS. Pretoria: Newsletter, Ministry for Welfare and Population Development, 26 January, 1-8.
GRINNELL, RM 1993. Social work research and evaluation. Itasca: FE Peacock Publishers.
GRINNELL, RM & WILLIAMS, M 1990. Research in social work: a primer. Itasca: FE Peacock Publishers.
JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) AND THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 1999. The AIDS epidemic in the 21st century – a widening gap. New York, 23 November, 20.
JUDD, CM; SMITH, ER & KIDDER, LH 1991. Research methods in social relations. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
MEER, R 1994. AIDS and food safety. In: WATSON, RR (ed) Nutrition and AIDS. London: CRC Press.
NAIDOO, S 1994. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: knowledge, attitudes and sexual activity among Black adolescents. Port Elizabeth: University of Port Elizabeth. (MA Thesis)
NEUMAN, WL 2000. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
NEW DICTIONARY OF SOCIAL WORK 1995. Cape Town: CTP Book Printers.
NORTH WEST DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: EDUCATION SUPPORT SERVICES, 1998. (Fax to grant permission to undertake the project, 21 August)
PAUW, I & BRENER, L 1997. Women and AIDS in South Africa. In: DE LA REY, C; DUNCAN, N; SHEFER, T & VAN NIEKERK, A (eds) Contemporary issues in human development: a South African focus. Halfway House: International Thomson Publishing Inc.
POINDEXTER, CC & LINSK, NL 1999. HIV-related stigma in a sample of HIV-affected older female African American caregivers. Social Work, 44(1):46-61.
RHODES, T 1996. Individual and community action in HIV prevention. In: RHODES, T & HARTNOLL, R (eds) AIDS, drugs and prevention. London: Routledge.
RUBIN, A & BABBIE, E 1997. Research methods for social work. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
SEARLE, C; BRINK, HIL & GROBBELAAR, WC 1994. Aspekte van gemeenskaps-gesondheid. Cape Town: CTP Press.
SMART, H 1993. VIGS-voorligtingsprogramme en die houding van Swart mynwerkers teenoor verworwe immuniteitsgebreksindroom. Potchefstroom: PU vir CHO. (MA Thesis)
SOUTH AFRICAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 1999. National policy on HIV/AIDS, for learners and educators in public schools, and students and educators in further education and training institutions. Government Gazette, 20372:1-57.
SOUTH AFRICAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 1997. Report of the Department of Health for the year ended 31 December. Cape Town: CTP Press.
SPIES, M 1999. ‘n Multi-dissiplinêre benadering ten opsigte van die HIV/VIGS pasiënt: ‘n geneeskundige maatskaplikewerk-ondersoek. Pretoria: University of Pretoria. (MA Thesis)
SUTHERLAND, DV 1999. HIV/AIDS and the Commonwealth. Commonwealth Universities Universities Respond to AIDS. Paper presented at the Conference of the Social, Demographic and Development Impact of AIDS, Durban, 8-9 November.
VALDISERRI, RO 1989. Preventing AIDS: The design of effective programs. London; Rutgers University Press.
VAN DER WALT, M 1990. Die immunologie van HIV. Koers, 55(3):297-315.
VAN DYK, AC 1999. AIDS care and counselling. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman.
VENTER, J 1999. Assistant Director – School Health Services, North West Province Department of Education, Mmabatho. (Fax on the number of learners per district, North West Province, dated 5 November 1999.)
VILJOEN, AT 1990. VIGS in Afrika, met spesiale verwysing na Suid-Afrika. Koers, 55(3):329-343. http://socialwork.journals.ac.za/
Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk 2003:39(1)
WEYERS, ML 990. Die maatskaplike implikasies en impak van VIGS: ‘n verkenning. Koers, 55(3):345-356.
WOODS, R 1992. Social work responses to AIDS: A programme for social work education in South Africa. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 28(4):37-46.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged when works are cited.
Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, and with conferences.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-4.0
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
Articles as a whole may not be re-published with another journal.
