AEGiS-15IAC: Impact of a media campaign on risk-reduction practices: Findings from the 2000 and 2003 youth surveys in Zambia.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Impact of a media campaign on risk-reduction practices: Findings from the 2000 and 2003 youth surveys in Zambia.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. WeOrD1243)

Underwood CR, Hochanda H, Serlemitsos ET, Bharath U
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

BACKGROUND: The Helping Each other Act Responsibly Together (HEART) Campaign is a media-based program designed for youth and by youth to inform young people about HIV/AIDS, discuss ways to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, and promote abstinence and condom use. Hypothesis I: campaign exposure will be positively correlated with protective sexual behaviours.

METHODS: To evaluate Phase I of the campaign (October 1999-April 2000), a cross-sectional survey of 1150 adolescents aged 13-19 was fielded in August 2000. To control for history effects between the two phases and to assess the impact of Phase III (December 2002-June 2003), a survey of 1200 adolescents was fielded in August 2003.

RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis, holding socio-demographic characteristics constant, was conducted to compare selected behaviours of viewers and non-viewers of the campaign. Baseline data were not available for Phase I; statistical tests for endogeneity supported the null hypothesis that campaign exp osure is an exogenous variable, thus eliminating the potential threat of a selectivity bias. Analysis indicates that Phase I viewers were 1.46 times more likely than non-viewers to report current abstinence; the odds ratio of current abstinence among Phase III viewers was 1.7 times greater than among non-viewers (p<.05). The data also demonstrated that among sexually active respondents, the odds ratio of condom use among Phase I viewers compared to non-viewers was 1.9, while the odds ratio of condom use among Phase III viewers was 3.5 contrasted with non-viewers (p<.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the 2000 Survey, which pointed to the importance of social norms and personal risk assessment in young people's sexual health decisions, were incorporated into Phase III; the results suggest that the campaign was thereby strengthened. These findings have significant implications regarding the use of mass media to address adolescent sexual behaviours.

Keywords: AEGIS, Risk Reduction Behavior, Data Collection, Sexual Behavior, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Mass Media, Adolescent Behavior, Cross-Sectional Studies, HIV Infections, Behavior, Zambia, Adolescent, Humans, Adolescence, diagnosis

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