EFFECTIVENESS OF AIDS EDUCATION USING SIGN LANGUAGE AMONG DEAF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

AIDS education has been proffered as a major way of reducing HIV infection among "at risk populations" especially the adolescents. However, while majority of the educational interventions on AIDS have targeted apparently normal adolescents the sensory handicapped seemed to have received little or no attention. The design of appropriate educational methods that will fit the physical characteristics of the handicapped pose additional challenges to many educators. The major objective of this study therefore was to design AIDS education programme for deaf secondary school students and test its effectiveness. This study utilised quasi-experimental design. Deaf-students from a secondary school in lbadan were exposed to AIDS education intervention while a similar group in Lagos served as control. The schools were matched for ownership (government), composition (mixture of hearing and deaf) and teaching arrangement (separate teaching of deaf students using sign language). Baseline information on knowledge, attitude, beliefs about AIDS and sexual behaviour among the intervention (108 students) and control (196 students) school were collected through a structured questionnaire. Information obtained was used to design and implement a peer education programme using sign language in the intervention school. Post intervention data were collected from both schools after 8 months of activities in the intervention school. Data were analysed using the EPI Info version 6.0 software.

Findings at baseline revealed that the mean age at sexual initiation in the intervention group was 14.5 years and 15.3 years in the control group. In addition, on a scale of 3 points for causation, modes of transmission and prevention of AIDS, mean scores of 1.27, 1.27 and 1.44 were respectively recorded for the intervention group and 1.65, 1.23 and 1.45 respectively for the control group. At post test, the mean scores were 1.90, 1.68 and 1.77 in the intervention group compared with 1.48, 1.32 and 1.67 respectively in the control group. These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Furthermore, differences in responses to personal susceptibility to HIV/AIDS was 76.9% before 63.6% after in intervention group compared with 68.9% before and 66.1% after in control group were not statistically significant (p>0.05). For susceptibility from an opposite sex, the responses recorded were 60.2% before and 53.8% after in intervention group and 58.4% before and 60.1% after in control group. The differences between the intervention and control group were not significant (P>0.05). These findings showed that education apart from creating a feeling of being at a higher risk of infection can also generate a feeling of higher security if respondents have more knowledge about modes of transmission and feeling they can avoid them. This is corroborated by 16.2% reduction in the proportion of respondents in the intervention school that had sex in the 3 months between pre and post intervention. In conclusion, the results found evidence for effectiveness of AIDS education intervention using sign Language in influencing knowledge about AIDS among deaf adolescents in secondary school. Additional data obtained suggest that AIDS education for the deaf has some limitations in changing perception of susceptibility.