Students Talk About Their HIV/AIDS Education Courses: A Case Of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this research was to explore how Ethiopian high school students experienced the HIV/AIDS education programs offered in their schools. The project also examined gender differences in the way HIV/AIDS education was perceived and the implications for the instructional design of the programs. A total of 15 high school students (eight females and seven males between the ages of 13 and 18) in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, were recruited through purposeful sampling. Data were collected using two focus groups with each group comprising one gender. This separation of genders was ideal to enable participants to express their thoughts freely and to observe possible gender divergences.

Findings: All participants agreed that school-based HIV/AIDS education was essential but that unfortunately, most of the programs that students attended were neither interesting nor beneficial. Gender differences were observed with females asking for in-school AIDS education to completely modify its focus and males feeling that the education’s current strategies should simply be improved. The implications of these results are discussed along with recommendations for further research.