R ESEARCH A RTICLE HIV/AIDS Stigma Attitudes Among Educators in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa LI-WEI CHAO, MD, PhD a JEFF GOW, P hD b,c GOKE AKINTOLA, Ph D d MARK PAULY, P hD e ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: One hundred and twenty educators from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, underwent HIV/AIDS training. The educators were surveyed about their attitudes toward people with HIV. METHODS: The educators completed self-administered survey questionnaires both before and after 2 interventions. Measures included demographic characteristics, teachers’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS, self-efficacy in handling HIV/AIDS situations, and attitudes (stigma and otherwise) toward HIV-related issues. The first intervention was a CD-ROM and the second intervention involved educators receiving a 2-day workshop on HIV transmission, risk factors, and actions that educators should know and undertake. The first step entailed testing the stigma instrument for its internal consistency and developing and testing potential subscales from the instrument. The second step entailed testing for the statistical associations between stigma (as measured by the stigma instrument and its subscales) and various demographic and HIV knowledge-related variables. RESULTS: The overall stigma scale had a Cronbach α coefficient of .66. Educators in the workshop generally had lower baseline levels of stigma than those in the CD-ROM intervention. Following both interventions, the stigma levels of both groups of educators were significantly reduced. Improvements in the general knowledge about HIV as a disease and in the specific knowledge about HIV transmission risks were both statistically significantly associated with reductions in stigma attitudes, having controlled for educators’ baseline stigma levels and demographic profiles. CONCLUSIONS: The levels of teachers’ stigma attitudes were statistically significantly lower after both types of HIV/AIDS training and were also statistically significantly associated with improvements in HIV knowledge. Keywords: school psychology; risk behaviors; human sexuality; health educators. Citation: Chao L-W, Gow J, Akintola G, Pauly M. HIV/AIDS stigma attitudes among educators in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. J Sch Health. 2010; 80: 561-569. Received on February 10, 2009 Accepted on January 20, 2010 a Research Associate, (chao69@wharton .upenn.edu), Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6298; The HIV /AI DS . ST Is & TB (HA ST)Resea rchProg ramme, Human Scie nce s Res ear ch Co uncil, Priv ateBag X41 , Pre toria0001 , So uthAfrica . b Assoc iate Profe ssor, (gow j@u sq.edu .au), Scho ol of Acco unting , Econom ics and Finance , Unive rsity of Sou thernQueen sland , L Block, We st Street, Too woo mb a, Austra lia. c Research Assoc iate, (gow j@uk zn.ac.za), Hea lth Econ om ics and HIV/A IDS Rese arch Division (HEA RD), Unive rsity of KwaZulu -Natal, J Block, Leve l 4, We stville Cam pus, Durb an 4041 , Sou th Africa. d Senio r Lectu rer, (akintola o@u kzn.ac.za) , Dep artm ent of Psych olog y, Unive rsity of Kwa Zulu -Nata l, MTRBuilding, How ard Colle ge, Durb an 4041, Sou th Africa. Journal of School Health • November 2010, Vol. 80, No. 11 • © 2010, American School Health Association • 561
