Effect of peer education on deaf secondary school students' HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and sexual behaviour

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of an AIDS education program on deaf secondary school students' knowledge, attitude and perceived susceptibility to AIDS using peer education. Two secondary schools matched for ownership (government), composition (mixture of hearing and deaf and teaching arrangement (separate teaching of deaf students using sign language) were used, and each school was randomly allocated the intervention or control status. All students completed a questionnaire on AIDS at baseline and post-intervention following baseline, volunteers from the intervention group received four weeks training as peer educators, after which they provided HIV/AIDS information to their peers on one-to-one basis and in group, using a variety of approaches for a period of eight months, while the control subjects did not Pre-post group differential scores for knowledge of the causes, modes of transmission and methods of prevention of AIDS among intervention group compared with the control group were significant (p<0,0000001) but not to perceived personal susceptibility (p=0.64217). This study suggests the influence of peer education on health knowledge of youth but a limitation in changing perception of susceptibility.