Open AccessYoung Citizens as Health Agents: Use of Drama in Promoting Community Efficacy for HIV/AIDS
Author(s) -
I NorifumI Kamo,
Mary Carlson,
Robert T. Brennan,
Felton J. Earls
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2007.113704
Subject(s) - witness , tanzania , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , drama , health education , competence (human resources) , medicine , family medicine , psychology , public health , gerontology , social psychology , nursing , sociology , political science , art , literature , law , ethnology
A community-based cluster randomized control trial in a medium-sized municipality in Tanzania was designed to increase local competence to control HIV/AIDS through actions initiated by children and adolescents aged 10 to 14 years. Representative groups from the 15 treatment communities reached mutual understanding about their objectives as health agents, prioritized their actions, and skillfully applied community drama ("skits") to impart knowledge about the social realities and the microbiology of HIV/AIDS. In independently conducted surveys of neighborhood residents, differences were found between adults who did and did not witness the skits in their beliefs about the efficacy of children as HIV/AIDS primary change agents.