AEGiS-09IAC: AIDS hot-lines: an alternative evaluation tool for the social response to AIDS interventions in developing countries.

9th International AIDS Conference


Berlin, Germany — June 6-11, 1993

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AIDS hot-lines: an alternative evaluation tool for the social response to AIDS interventions in developing countries.

Int Conf AIDS 1993 Jun 6-11; 9:131 (abstract no. WS-D28-2)
Carrillo E, Tovar M, Rios F, Rico B, del Rio C; CONASIDA, Mexico.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an economic and efficient evaluation tool for educational interventions, and particularly to measure the impact of mass-media campaigns. BACKGROUND AND

METHODS: CONASIDA's AIDS-Hot line (TELSIDA) has been working since 1987 and has been gradually improved from a manual to a computerized system, thus allowing us to give information and get feedback from callers. Qualitative and impact evaluations are expensive and unaccessible for most developing countries, but extremely necessary. The AIDS hot-line has been previously used as an evaluation tool (Abst FD902, VI Int Conf on AIDS). Using a standardized format a comparison was made between the 1st and 2nd semester of 1992, based on the number, content of calls, and callers description. After the calls have been answered, we asked callers to respond voluntarily a short questionnaire including sociodemographic data, how they knew about the service and two items about the campaign.

RESULTS: During the 2nd sem, a mass media campaign was launched. We observed an increase of 181% in the number of calls, from 9385 to 17010. Changes in call content as well as in the callers profile according to the campaign topic were noted. For example, the number of calls by persons with risk behavior increased 403% and there was a dramatic increase in the number of calls directly as a consequence of TV (448%) or radio spots (2,885%).

DISCUSSION: Although limitations and bias of such an evaluation tool exist, the hot-line allowed us to: 1) inexpensively evaluate the campaigns and, 2) know the community educational and information needs. An AIDS-Hot line can serve other purposes besides information such as education, counselling, evaluation of campaigns and feedback.

Keywords: AEGIS, Hotlines, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Program Evaluation, Developing Countries, Counseling, Television, nursing, psychology, ICA9KWDaegis,hotlines,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,programevaluation,developingcountries,counseling,television,nursing,psychology,ica9
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WSD282

Copyright © 1993 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.