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 circumstances
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