Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

As national education programs incorporate HIV prevention into school curricula, policymakers and educators need to know what they can expect from these initiatives. Can such courses influence the behavior of students as well as their knowledge and attitudes? If not, what can these courses reasonably be expected to accomplish, and what part can they play in overall HIV programming for youth? To help answer these questions, the Thai Ministry of Education, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), and the Horizons Program embarked on a study to examine the outcomes of a school-based HIV/AIDS program for Thai college students. The curriculum for the “Teens on Smart Sex” Program consists of eight two-hour sessions conducted once a week among college-age students. As noted in this brief, the program successfully improved students’ HIV-related knowledge and attitudes about people living with HIV/AIDS. It also improved female students’ attitudes about condom use and increased actual use. There was no evidence, however, of the adoption of other protective behaviors, such as abstinence, among males and females. Evaluation findings are being used to strengthen course activities so that course impact can result in greater behavior change.

DOI

10.31899/hiv2003.1012

Language

English

Project

Horizons Program

Share

COinS