Evaluation of a School-based Youth HIV Prevention Programme

Overview

HEARD worked with researchers from the University of Toronto and York University in Canada to evaluate an FBO HIV prevention programme, administered to adolescents in two schools in a poor urban area of Durban. The programme’s objective was to reduce HIV infection rates amongst young people in the area by reducing their risk-taking behaviour in general.

The need for effective HIV prevention strategies for youth in South Africa is urgent. The HIV prevention programme evaluated shows promise, through its human development approach to prevention, its peer mentor model, and its long-term commitment to the youth. Results of this evaluation will provide insight into whether this Programme and/or its components ought to be scaled up in South Africa and the region.

Research Questions

The key research question is: How has the school-based youth HIV prevention programme affected HIV risk-taking behaviour amongst youth that received it ?

The specific research questions are:

• Is there a direct relationship between participation in the programme and HIV risk-taking and other risk-taking behaviours among youth participants?
• Is there an indirect relationship between participation in the programme and HIV risk taking behaviour and other risk taking behaviour amongst youth participants? (i.e. does the programme affect youth risk behavior by influencing psychological dimensions such as self-esteem, hope and resilience?)
• From the perspective of stakeholders (i.e., learners, mentors, teachers, principals and parents), how and why does the programme contribute to HIV prevention?

Strategic Questions

This project falls under HEARD’s Programme 1, in that it evaluates the effectiveness of an existing HIV prevention response. This is important since there is a significant need for effective HIV prevention strategies in Southern Africa, given high rates of HIV prevalence amongst young people in our region. There is also a need for further applied research in the area of faith-based prevention. This project speaks mainly to the research question: "How do we best interpret successful or unsuccessful responses to the pandemic as lessons in best practice?"

Expected Knock-On

While this project focuses on the evaluation of a specific prevention programme, its results have broader implications for HIV prevention interventions in general and the role of faith-based initiatives in prevention programming. Furthermore, it will generate demographic and sexual health data for a cohort of over 800 adolescents.

Outcomes will include:

• A final report and presentations disseminating findings to our FBO partner
• Presentations at conferences, symposia and research meetings to disseminate findings to the academic and broader community
• Reports and summaries on the project findings, tailored to suit the needs of participants and other audiences
• Interactive feedback sessions in each of the four participant schools, to disseminate school-level findings to learners, parents and teachers
• Scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals

Project Impact

• Findings will contribute to determining whether the programme evaluated should continue to be rolled-out or not, and/or how it could be improved
• Findings will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge on adolescent HIV prevention programming and faith-based prevention programming

Brief Description

HEARD and its research partners conducted a retrospective evaluation of the programme, using quantitative and qualitative methods. A self-administered survey evaluated differences between learners who had received the programme and control learners. Focus groups provided in-depth insight into how learners and their parents and teachers perceived changes with respect to HIV in their community.

Collaborators

• Project co-lead: Dr. Stephanie Nixon, University of Toronto
• Project co-lead: Dr Sarah Flicker, York University
• Project co-lead: Dr Michaela Hynie, York University
• Researcher: Kelly O’ Brien, University of Toronto
• Researcher: Angelique Jenney, University of Toronto

Key Phases

Outputs and Activities

• Abstinence, Condoms, Right and Wrong: Critical Reflections on a Faith-based School HIV Prevention Programme in South Africa.  Click here for more information.
• Gender, social norms, attitudes and sexual risk outcomes among secondary school learners: Evidence from a low-income urban community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  Click here for more information.
• Poster: Abstinence, Condoms, Right and Wrong: Critical Reflections on a Faith-based School HIV Prevention Program in South Africa. Click here for more information.
• Poster: Fieldwork Challenges and Lessons Learned from a North-South Public Health Research Partnership. Click here for more information.
• Poster: Gender, social norms, attitudes and sexual risk outcomes among secondary school learners. Click here for more information.
• All data collection and analysis has been completed. The project is in the final reporting and dissemination phase. We have been providing ongoing feedback to our FBO partner, in the form of reports, discussions and presentations, with the aim of providing the organisation with useful information and support to strengthen their programme. In November 2008, we disseminated school-level findings to learners, teachers and principals in each of the 4 participant schools; this was achieved through interactive feedback sessions and targeted booklets. Efforts to share findings with the academic and broader HIV community include nine oral and poster presentations at national and regional AIDS conferences in South Africa and Canada, 5 presentations at local symposia and research meetings and several journal articles submitted and in course.