Marseille 2007
| Abstract #610 - What role do HIV-related blame and stigmatisation play in influencing sexual behaviour? A study of young people in Ghana. | ||||
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Session: 26.106: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Dinah Baah-Odoom - University of Birmingham, United Kingdom |
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| Additional Authors: Ms Dinah Baah-Odoom, Dr Gerry A. Riley, | ||||
| Aim: To determine whether people within societies tend to blame foreign influences and marginalise groups in society for the origin and spread of the disease as proposed by social representation approach, and also whether distancing strategies result in less caution via the mediating effect of a reduced perception of risk, (Joffe 1999; Joffe & Bettega 2003; Goodwin, Kozlova, Nizharadze and Polyakova 2004). | ||||
| Method / Issue: Questionnaires, designed to measure the key variables, were administered to a sample of over 400 adolescents and young people attending secondary school or university in Ghana to directly test the above theory. | ||||
| Results / Comments: The results supported the idea that distancing strategies are associated with reduced caution in sexual intention. Stigmatising attitudes and belief in the foreign origin of HIV/AIDS (but not blaming attitudes towards out-groups) were associated with reduced intentions to practice safe sex, and stigmatising attitudes were also associated with a greater readiness to take risks in sexual relationships. However, the relationships with actual sexual behaviour in the past tended to be in the opposite direction. Those who had been less cautious in their choice of sexual partners had less stigmatising attitudes, and those who had less belief in the foreign origin of the disease had been less cautious in their use of condoms. By contrast, and consistent with the theory, those who with blaming attitudes towards out-groups had not practised safe sex. | ||||
| Discussion: The study provided no support for the idea that these relationships were mediated by a reduced appraisal of risk. In fact, the distancing attitudes tended to be associated with a raised perception of risk - both stigmatising attitudes and beliefs about the foreign origin of the disease were significantly associated with a heightened sense of vulnerability. In addition, the appraisal of risk was not strongly related to sexual intention or past sexual behaviour, although those who were more frightened by the disease did report a greater intention to practice safe sex. The significance of these results for both theory and practice will be discussed. | ||||
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