The identification of community needs for AIDS health education

English: AIDS is a fatal disease which mostly affects the economically productive age-group (25-50 years). It therefore adversely affects the economy of the country. It is also expensive to treat as it affects the immune system of the body, thereby rendering the person critically ill and requiring intense and expensive nursing and medical care. AIDS is also seen as a disease of attitude and behaviour, as it is closely associated with sexual behaviour, where a person has more than one sexual partner. This practice, in the form of polygamy (as seen today) and concubinage, is still accepted as normal cultural practice in most black communities in spite of the effect of social change on many tribal customs. There is a drastic increase in the number of persons infected with AIDS in spite of existing efforts to combat the disease. This increase is not specific to a particular racial group, country, community or town. It is a worldwide problem. However, most new cases of AIDS are found among the black population. Health education seems to be the only strategy available as a measure for controlling the spread of AIDS in the absence of a cure. There is therefore a definite need to investigate the requirements for the development of a health education program for the control of AIDS. The aim of this study was to identify the needs of the community for AIDS health education. This entailed eliciting their perceptions of AIDS, establishing their preference regarding the AIDS educator, identifying topics/aspects to be addressed in the educational program, as well as establishing principles with which ethnicspecific health educational programs should comply to be acceptable to communities. Interviews were conducted with clients visiting health services In Mangaung. Trained fieldworkers were used to help with the implementation of the structured interview schedule. The data were analysed and the findings were compared and discussed in terms of the literature review. Reliability of the data collection instrument was ensured by training fieldworkers to ask questions correctly. The conduction of a pilot study to identify possible problems and address these before the major study helped to ensure reliability. For the purpose of validity, the interview schedule was submitted to experts in research. This ensured face validity. Content validity was ensured by submitting the measuring instrument to a domain expert. It was also handed to an expert working at the AIDS Training, Information and Counselling Centre (ATICC) for evaluation. These experts were asked to evaluate the interview schedule in terms of whether the questions were correctly and objectively worded and whether they matched the objectives of the study. Conclusions and recommendations were made and guidelines, based on findings, were set for the development of a health education program for the control of AIDS.