| Summary: | There are repeated calls in the literature for the implementation and evaluation of
evidence based HIV prevention programmes. This study aimed to evaluate a life-skills
theatre performance for adolescents promoting safer sex behaviour against aspects of an
established AIDS risk reduction theory.
The study used a quasi-experimental research design, and was operationalised through
the use of a questionnaire measuring knowledge, attitudes and perceptions conducive to
HIV/AIDS risk reduction. Bandura’s (1990) Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) provided a
conceptual framework for the development of the instrument. A further aim of the study
was to establish whether the instrument would yield a factor structure that could be linked
to Social Cognitive Theory using a principal components factor analysis.
A sample of 392 adolescent high school learners in Grades 10 and 11 at two high schools
in Naledi, Soweto completed the evaluation instrument. A sample of 165 learners were
exposed to the play prior to completion of the evaluation instrument. A sample of 227
learners completed the questionnaire before the play was scheduled to be performed and
were thus considered a control group. The effects of exposure to the play, gender, age,
grade and whether the learners reported that they were sexually active formed the
independent variables in the analysis, which were examined for their influences on the
theoretical constructs measured by the instrument through analysis of variance
(ANOVA).
The results indicated that learners at both schools had a reasonably high level of
knowledge, attitudes and perceptions conducive to HIV/AIDS risk reduction. However,
learners at the control school scored significantly higher on the factors tapped by the
questionnaire than learners attending the school exposed to the play. Possible reasons for
these differences are discussed in the report. The results also highlighted significant
differences between Grade 11 and Grade 10 learners in knowledge, attitudes and
perceptions conducive to HIV/AIDS risk reduction. The physical age of the learner did
not appear to be as important as educational level and/or possible social peer group norms
on responses to the instrument.
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