Forced sexual experiences and sexual situation self-efficacy among South African youth

Nearly 20% of South African youth experience forced or coerced sexual intercourse. Understanding the factors associated with forced sex is important for informing prevention programs aimed at reducing sexual violence and HIV and AIDS. Multilevel regression models test the association between sexual situation self-efficacy and forced sex among 2,893 South African adolescents. Findings suggest that youth are more likely to experience forced sex after periods of time when their levels of self-efficacy are lower than their average levels of self-efficacy. Furthermore, youth who are lower on their self-efficacy compared to their peers are more likely to experience forced sex. Implications for prevention research are discussed.IS

Using incentives to encourage AIDS programs and policies in the workplace: A study of feasibility and impact in Thailand

A recently completed Horizons study in Thailand examined the question of how to encourage the private sector to become actively involved in developing and improving workplace HIV/AIDS programs. The study found that the AIDS-response Standard Organization (ASO) initiative mobilized a moderate proportion of different types of companies to develop and improve HIV/AIDS workplace policies and programs. The data also reveal that companies that were eligible for the insurance discount made the greatest improvements. Thus a financial incentive combined with efforts to tap into managers’ willingness to respond to the epidemic can be important motivators for certain companies to improve their workplace environment. Despite improvements at the workplace, there was no impact on employees’ HIV-related knowledge and behavior, therefore, in future endeavors, more attention needs to be paid to the program content of HIV/AIDS workplace activities

Reducing HIV infection among youth: What can schools do? Key baseline findings from Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand

Although many program planners see schools as a convenient location for HIV-prevention programs, there is controversy about whether school programs can ever be strong enough to go beyond improving knowledge and attitudes to increasing the adoption of safe sexual behaviors. Evaluations of school programs in Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand focus on this question: Can school HIV programs change behavior? In each country, local organizations have worked with educators on teacher training and course design to ensure high-quality school interventions. Researchers surveyed students’ knowledge, attitudes, norms, and reported behavior before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and again several months later to measure retention of program effects. In all three sites comparable control groups are compared to the intervention group. The mean age and age ranges for the three study groups are: 16 years and 13–23 for the Mexican study group; 15 years and 8 months and ages 12–21 for the South African study group; and 20 years and ages 17–31 for the Thai study group. This report is a summary of key baseline findings from these studies

Exploring Thailand's mortality transition with the aid of life tables

The project Thai Health-Risk Transition: A National Cohort Study seeks to better understand the health implications of modernisation and globalisation forces impacting on Thailand. As part of its ‘look-back’ component this paper seeks, using available life tables, to document the country's post-war mortality transition. The onset of transition through mass campaigns of the late 1940s and 1950s is first discussed before attention turns to the life tables. They are predictably far from flawless, but careful analysis does permit trends that have seen around 30 years added to life expectancy to be traced, and age patterns of improved survivorship and their relation to initiatives to improve health to be examined. The broad benefits generated by mass campaigns, ongoing improvements in infant and early childhood mortality, and a phased impact of the expansion of primary health care in rural areas on adult survival prospects after the mid-1970s are demonstrated. The paper also investigates the consequences for mortality of a motorcycle-focused rapid increase in road fatalities in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the HIV/AIDS epidemic that developed after 1984

Sex, Abortion, Domestic Violence and Other Unmentionables: Orthodox Christian Youth in Kenya and Windows into Their Attitudes about Sex

This article is based on the results of a survey of Orthodox Youth in Kenya and their attitudes about sex, abortion and domestic violence. This survey was taken of the participants of an all-Kenya Orthodox youth conference held in western Kenya in August of 2016. The results give insight into the participants’ sources for first learning about sexual matters, as well as the sources that are preferred today. The youths’ perception of the Orthodox Church’s handling of sexual matters and sexual education is also revealed. Difficult moral issues facing Orthodox Kenyan youth are raised, such as premarital sex, domestic violence, the impact of HIV-AIDS on behavior, and responses to unintended pregnancy, with results providing insight as to how Orthodox youth are navigating the challenges facing them as they grow up into modern life both as Kenyans and as Orthodox Christians. After relating the story told by each set of survey results, conclusions are drawn from each of the issues addressed, with suggestions made as to a way forward, or further questions to pursue

Programming for HIV prevention among college students in Thailand

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

The role of incentives in encouraging workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programs

This brief examines the role of incentives in encouraging companies in Thailand to adopt workplace policies and programs that address AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and respond to the needs of workers for information and services. The research was a collaboration between the Horizons Program, American International Assurance (AIA), the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS (TBCA), and AusAID. After the initiative was launched (known as the AIDS-response Standard Organization), TBCA staff built relationships with company managers to explain and promote the advantages of joining. Companies agreeing to implement at least three HIV/AIDS workplace policies would receive a reduction of 5–10 percent off group life insurance premiums from AIA, Thailand’s largest insurance provider, if they were AIA clients. As the initiative evolved, TBCA introduced the additional incentive of a certificate endorsed by the government and awarded at a high-profile public ceremony. For each company agreeing to participate, TBCA offered assistance to enhance their activities, including providing educational leaflets, videos, and a mobile exhibition, as well as condoms, peer education training, counseling and referrals to support groups for HIV-positive employees, and assistance with writing company HIV/AIDS policies