PROMOTING SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH –
SCHOOL-BASED hiv/aids PREVENTION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
The main objective of the project is to develop, implement and evaluate a school-based health education programme for students aged 12-14 years at two sites in South Africa and one site in Tanzania.
More specific objectives:
• Develop a research-based framework for cost-effective and culturally sensitive sexual- and reproductive health interventions targeting adolescents. The school system will constitute the primary setting. The surrounding community will be involved through participation of parents, health personnel, and community (including religious) leaders.
• To conduct and evaluate interventions at selected sites (one site in Tanzania and two sites in South Africa) in order to document and improve the efficacy and relevance of the intervention.
• To test the usefulness of and, if necessary, change or expand on existing theoretical models for predicting sexual and reproductive behaviours.
• To contribute to the development of expertise and scientific excellence in the field of health behaviour intervention and research among all partners.
Activities
In each intervention site a thorough situation analysis will be conducted. Based on the results of the situation analysis and on previous relevant research, intervention “packages” will be developed. Evaluation procedures and instruments are to be developed and piloted. The intervention packages will be tested out in a field experiment with intervention schools and comparison schools as well as one pre test and two post-tests in each site. Within this mainly quantitative approach, qualitative evaluation studies will also be conducted. Comparability across sites of interventions, evaluation procedures and data collection instruments will be ensured as far as possible. Expertise of partners will be developed through workshops, exchange og personnel, and participation in master- and doctoral programmes.
Expected outcome
It is expected that the project will succeed in designing health education programmes targeting adolescents aged 12-14 which are research-based, cost-effective, culturally sensitive, and adequately adapted to local circumstances. Furthermore the project will deliver a set of valid and reliable instruments for measurement of sexual- and reproductive behaviour and key predictors and correlates. Articles focusing on the adequacy and possible modification of health behaviour theories which have been developed in western countries are to be published, and so are articles describing the results of the evaluation studies. A number of candidates from the collaborating institutions will have started or finalized their master- or doctoral theses based on SATZ sub-studies or spin-off studies.