The effects of a participative programme on Irish pupils' attitudes to HIV/AIDS

Abstract

The study is concerned with a general humanistic approach to health (lifeskills) education and its application to the specific issue of HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Ireland. A programme of five classroom sessions, structured to encourage active participation, was administered to an experimental group of 20 participants (10 male and 10 female). There was an equivalent control group. Attitudes towards 10 AIDS-related person concepts were measured before and after the programme using semantic differential rating scales. Highly significant differences were found between groups in post-programme attitudes to the concepts. There were no gender differences. It is concluded that this participative programme strongly influences AIDS-related attitudes and, in particular, promotes compassion towards those with HIV/AIDS.