Okay here's the whole thing from yesterday with sources if you are interested:
The Abstinence Only Debate: HIV/AIDS Intervention and Education
Literature Review
Abstract: The spread of HIV infection throughout the world has caused millions upon millions of people to die from AIDS complications. The political and social debate as to whether condom education should be made available in addition to abstinence and monogamy education has implications beyond serving personal agendas. It is important to seek out empirical evidence as to what kind of prevention and intervention programs are the most effective.
Introduction
AIDS is a preventable disease. People agree that education is the way to prevent this disease, but there are disagreements as to what type of education should be made available in prevention and intervention programs. The people who are taught are subject to changing attitudes and beliefs among those who have control over funding. In the United States a debate is raging on as to what the correct form of education is. This debate extends from education of Americas children to funding for education in Africa. The current administration favors abstinence education to condom education. Some groups find this policy to be wrong and in some cases illegal, while other groups believe abstinence education has shown to produce favorable results in stopping the spread of HIV.
It is not appropriate to claim a certain way of teaching HIV/AIDS prevention without proper evidence. Many opinions and facts are available in the discourse community on HIV/AIDS education and prevention, but it is important to find the sources that are credible and factual. With more research, the debate may become something less emotional, and more scientific.
Methods
Objective
To discover credible evidence as to how HIV/AIDS preventative education should be taught to help ameliorate the spread of HIV in order to take emotional and political agendas out of the equation in discussion
Article Sources
The articles are from internet magazines, government websites, and journal articles found through scholarly internet databases. Keywords used included: HIV/AIDS, abstinence, education, and prevention.
Discussion of Articles
Article 1: Chastity, M.D.: Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, congress.
This online magazine article talks about the government funding the medical school curriculum of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which favors abstinence education as opposed to condom education. The author takes a biased tone throughout the article with sentences such as: With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit (Schaffer, 2006). The credibility is all but shot when using words like finagled and hijacking. Rather than reporting the evidence clearly, emotions cloud the possible facts. This is a clear example of how the debate on abstinence education tends to turn to emotional appeals rather than basing arguments on empirical evidence. To the authors defense, she does quote research facts from the National Health Institutes on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing heterosexual transmission of HIV and gonorrhea.
She concedes that the study did not have substantial evidence that condoms are effective in prevention of HPV, without snide language. The author goes on to quote President George W. Bush and his opinions on condoms, We must stop promoting methods that are known to have high failure rates in preventing HPV transmission, notably the condom. We must continue to emphasize highly effective methods of prevention, namely abstinence, whenever possible (Schaffer, 2006). This is an example of bias on the side of the argument in favor of abstinence-only education. The statement made by the president is a fallacy because the research said that it could not be proven whether or not condoms were effective in HPV prevention-not that they were proven not to be effective. Oftentimes research is construed to suit peoples own agendas. This article is helpful in establishing the exigency for further research in HIV/AIDS prevention education and attaining empirical evidence as to what methods of education are most successful.
Article 2: A, B, C in Uganda: the roles of abstinence, monogamy and condom use in HIV decline
This article discusses the evidence on the decreasing spread of HIV infection in Uganda since the late 1980s to 2003. The authors main purpose is to cipher through the data and discover if certain intervention strategies were better than others. The strategy in question is the A,B,C method and the individual components themselves (abstinence, be faithful, and condoms). The article does not share biased opinions but rather empirical evidence and scholarly interpretations of data.
The article explains that all three methods of prevention had increased in the populations studied between 1988 and 2000. The large increases in abstinence and monogamy were complimented by increased condom use in unmarried men and women. It was found that condom use was not greatly increased in married women. This is a problem because not all married people are free from the risks of HIV. A partner may be having sex with other people, or one person may have already contracted the disease without the other partner knowing it. Women do not feel able to ask their husbands to wear condoms. This shows a disconnect in education on condom negotiation information.
The article presents information that leads the reader to believe that a combination of intervention factors has been effective in Ugandas little miracle in HIV prevention. This is one of the most helpful articles available to aid in discussion on HIV prevention education. It is scholarly, takes statistics from a known success story and attempts to provide an explanation based on these statistics. More journal articles like this one would aid in allowing the discussion on HIV prevention to remain factual rather than emotional.
Article 3: HIV prevention strategic plan through 2005
This article is a publication of the United States government from the Centers for Disease Control. The audience ranges from the general population to those working at human services agencies geared toward the HIV/AIDS population. This website covers topics such as current status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America, HIV problems, national goals, and international goals. The website touches on the issue of HIV/AIDS as a dynamic, fluid disease. Today, the population most affected by an increase in HIV transmission is women and young people, and people of color more specifically. The main populations who were affected in the past were men who have sex with men and IV drug users.
The website contends that intervention programs have slowed the rate of HIV infections in the United States and abroad. While it states that prevention programs work, it skirts around the issue of which prevention programs have been found to be the most successful. The authors chose not to mention abstinence or condom education throughout the website. In the section entitled Elements of Successful HIV prevention Programs this is listed: Health education and risk reduction activities, including individual-, group-and community-level interventions, (Centers for Disease Control) but there is no mention as to what kinds of risk reduction activities should take place. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is good on the one hand because it means the government website is not biased, it is only presenting factual information that is known to be credible. On the other hand, this leaves an air of ambiguity for those who are conducting outreach and education programs. The question still remains, What is the best form of HIV prevention education?
This publication of the CDC is more of a report than a helpful tool for those in the field. While it is called a plan, its choice to remain general and avoid words such as abstinence, monogamy, and condom make it difficult to implement such a plan. The ambiguity of this piece of literature is a true testament to the raging debate happening in politics in the United States.
Article 4: Predictors of mother-adolescent discussions about condoms: implications for providers who serve youth
This article is found in the scholarly journal entitled Pediatrics. The audience of the journal is those who are in the medical field. This particular article is a study that found that communication about condoms between mothers and adolescents can influence risky behavior. 48% of high school students engage in intercourse. This may be a shocking statistic to many parents. This has many implications when related to HIV/AIDS prevention education in schools. The authors state that, mother-adolescent communication about condoms was associated with greater knowledge about sexuality and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Miller & Whitaker, 2001). When discussion on condoms is allowed, greater knowledge on the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, is achieved. The scholarly research in this journal is the kind of information that should be available to cite in discussions on HIV/AIDS prevention education. The study does not use emotional language and chooses to remove itself from the debate at hand. The authors are clearly in the business of research- not politics. Unlike the information provided on the CDCs website, the authors are not restricted to hold back any information. In fact, it would be unethical not to mention the relationship between discussion of condoms and the prevention of HIV. The article goes on to recommend that physicians should aid parents with instructional materials and let them know that condoms are the only effective way to prevent HIV aside from abstinence. The conclusion is based on empirical evidence found in the study.
Conclusion
Many of the articles available in the discourse community on HIV/AIDS prevention education have some tinge of emotional language. Articles published in popular sources are the most at risk for such language. Journals seem to be the most credible sources for information on HIV/AIDS prevention, but even these studies fall short in being able to provide a clear-cut example of a type of prevention education that works. This is a clue that one sort of education, such as abstinence education, cannot be relied on to prevent the spread of HIV. Many factors go into what makes a prevention program work, from the cultural context to the funding available. Unfortunately, sometimes the funding will not allow the information to be disseminated in a culturally significant way- leaving some of the worlds population most at risk for HIV infection behind.
Recommendations
I believe HIV/AIDS prevention education should be presented in a culturally significant manner. The audience is extremely important. Abstinence until marriage education cannot be presented to members of the gay community as the way to effectively prevent HIV transmission. This is not culturally significant considering that gay marriage is not legal in most states. In addition, it is important to remember the youth; those people who are still in high school. Knowing that 48% of high school students have had sex (Miller & Whitaker, 2001) it would be ignorant to teach these students abstinence education alone.
I believe information should be free to all people. If there is information on how to use condoms, then let the people know this information. There is no empirical evidence that condom education increases the spread of HIV. In fact, most studies show that condom education aids in decreasing the spread of HIV. This being the case, it is important to take each element of the A,B,C (abstinence, be faithful, condoms) approach as an equally important factor in HIV/AIDS prevention. I would rather know that the people of the world have more information, than too little information. In this life and death situation, knowledge is the answer to preserving life.
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control. (2001). HIV prevention strategic plan through 2005. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/
hiv_plan/Table%20of%20Contents.htm.
Miller, K. S., & Whitaker, D.J. (2001). Predictors of mother-adolescent discussions about condoms: implications for providers who serve youth. Pediatrics, 108, E28. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from PubMed database.
Schaffer, A. (2006, April 11). Chastity, M.D.: Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, congress. Slate. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.slate.com/id/2139675.
Singh, S., Darroch, J. E., & Bankole, A. (2004). A, B, C in Uganda: the roles of abstinence, monogamy and condom use in HIV decline. Reproductive Health Matters, 12, 129-135. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from PubMed database.
The Abstinence Only Debate: HIV/AIDS Intervention and Education
Literature Review
Abstract: The spread of HIV infection throughout the world has caused millions upon millions of people to die from AIDS complications. The political and social debate as to whether condom education should be made available in addition to abstinence and monogamy education has implications beyond serving personal agendas. It is important to seek out empirical evidence as to what kind of prevention and intervention programs are the most effective.
Introduction
AIDS is a preventable disease. People agree that education is the way to prevent this disease, but there are disagreements as to what type of education should be made available in prevention and intervention programs. The people who are taught are subject to changing attitudes and beliefs among those who have control over funding. In the United States a debate is raging on as to what the correct form of education is. This debate extends from education of Americas children to funding for education in Africa. The current administration favors abstinence education to condom education. Some groups find this policy to be wrong and in some cases illegal, while other groups believe abstinence education has shown to produce favorable results in stopping the spread of HIV.
It is not appropriate to claim a certain way of teaching HIV/AIDS prevention without proper evidence. Many opinions and facts are available in the discourse community on HIV/AIDS education and prevention, but it is important to find the sources that are credible and factual. With more research, the debate may become something less emotional, and more scientific.
Methods
Objective
To discover credible evidence as to how HIV/AIDS preventative education should be taught to help ameliorate the spread of HIV in order to take emotional and political agendas out of the equation in discussion
Article Sources
The articles are from internet magazines, government websites, and journal articles found through scholarly internet databases. Keywords used included: HIV/AIDS, abstinence, education, and prevention.
Discussion of Articles
Article 1: Chastity, M.D.: Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, congress.
This online magazine article talks about the government funding the medical school curriculum of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which favors abstinence education as opposed to condom education. The author takes a biased tone throughout the article with sentences such as: With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit (Schaffer, 2006). The credibility is all but shot when using words like finagled and hijacking. Rather than reporting the evidence clearly, emotions cloud the possible facts. This is a clear example of how the debate on abstinence education tends to turn to emotional appeals rather than basing arguments on empirical evidence. To the authors defense, she does quote research facts from the National Health Institutes on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing heterosexual transmission of HIV and gonorrhea.
She concedes that the study did not have substantial evidence that condoms are effective in prevention of HPV, without snide language. The author goes on to quote President George W. Bush and his opinions on condoms, We must stop promoting methods that are known to have high failure rates in preventing HPV transmission, notably the condom. We must continue to emphasize highly effective methods of prevention, namely abstinence, whenever possible (Schaffer, 2006). This is an example of bias on the side of the argument in favor of abstinence-only education. The statement made by the president is a fallacy because the research said that it could not be proven whether or not condoms were effective in HPV prevention-not that they were proven not to be effective. Oftentimes research is construed to suit peoples own agendas. This article is helpful in establishing the exigency for further research in HIV/AIDS prevention education and attaining empirical evidence as to what methods of education are most successful.
Article 2: A, B, C in Uganda: the roles of abstinence, monogamy and condom use in HIV decline
This article discusses the evidence on the decreasing spread of HIV infection in Uganda since the late 1980s to 2003. The authors main purpose is to cipher through the data and discover if certain intervention strategies were better than others. The strategy in question is the A,B,C method and the individual components themselves (abstinence, be faithful, and condoms). The article does not share biased opinions but rather empirical evidence and scholarly interpretations of data.
The article explains that all three methods of prevention had increased in the populations studied between 1988 and 2000. The large increases in abstinence and monogamy were complimented by increased condom use in unmarried men and women. It was found that condom use was not greatly increased in married women. This is a problem because not all married people are free from the risks of HIV. A partner may be having sex with other people, or one person may have already contracted the disease without the other partner knowing it. Women do not feel able to ask their husbands to wear condoms. This shows a disconnect in education on condom negotiation information.
The article presents information that leads the reader to believe that a combination of intervention factors has been effective in Ugandas little miracle in HIV prevention. This is one of the most helpful articles available to aid in discussion on HIV prevention education. It is scholarly, takes statistics from a known success story and attempts to provide an explanation based on these statistics. More journal articles like this one would aid in allowing the discussion on HIV prevention to remain factual rather than emotional.
Article 3: HIV prevention strategic plan through 2005
This article is a publication of the United States government from the Centers for Disease Control. The audience ranges from the general population to those working at human services agencies geared toward the HIV/AIDS population. This website covers topics such as current status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America, HIV problems, national goals, and international goals. The website touches on the issue of HIV/AIDS as a dynamic, fluid disease. Today, the population most affected by an increase in HIV transmission is women and young people, and people of color more specifically. The main populations who were affected in the past were men who have sex with men and IV drug users.
The website contends that intervention programs have slowed the rate of HIV infections in the United States and abroad. While it states that prevention programs work, it skirts around the issue of which prevention programs have been found to be the most successful. The authors chose not to mention abstinence or condom education throughout the website. In the section entitled Elements of Successful HIV prevention Programs this is listed: Health education and risk reduction activities, including individual-, group-and community-level interventions, (Centers for Disease Control) but there is no mention as to what kinds of risk reduction activities should take place. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is good on the one hand because it means the government website is not biased, it is only presenting factual information that is known to be credible. On the other hand, this leaves an air of ambiguity for those who are conducting outreach and education programs. The question still remains, What is the best form of HIV prevention education?
This publication of the CDC is more of a report than a helpful tool for those in the field. While it is called a plan, its choice to remain general and avoid words such as abstinence, monogamy, and condom make it difficult to implement such a plan. The ambiguity of this piece of literature is a true testament to the raging debate happening in politics in the United States.
Article 4: Predictors of mother-adolescent discussions about condoms: implications for providers who serve youth
This article is found in the scholarly journal entitled Pediatrics. The audience of the journal is those who are in the medical field. This particular article is a study that found that communication about condoms between mothers and adolescents can influence risky behavior. 48% of high school students engage in intercourse. This may be a shocking statistic to many parents. This has many implications when related to HIV/AIDS prevention education in schools. The authors state that, mother-adolescent communication about condoms was associated with greater knowledge about sexuality and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Miller & Whitaker, 2001). When discussion on condoms is allowed, greater knowledge on the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, is achieved. The scholarly research in this journal is the kind of information that should be available to cite in discussions on HIV/AIDS prevention education. The study does not use emotional language and chooses to remove itself from the debate at hand. The authors are clearly in the business of research- not politics. Unlike the information provided on the CDCs website, the authors are not restricted to hold back any information. In fact, it would be unethical not to mention the relationship between discussion of condoms and the prevention of HIV. The article goes on to recommend that physicians should aid parents with instructional materials and let them know that condoms are the only effective way to prevent HIV aside from abstinence. The conclusion is based on empirical evidence found in the study.
Conclusion
Many of the articles available in the discourse community on HIV/AIDS prevention education have some tinge of emotional language. Articles published in popular sources are the most at risk for such language. Journals seem to be the most credible sources for information on HIV/AIDS prevention, but even these studies fall short in being able to provide a clear-cut example of a type of prevention education that works. This is a clue that one sort of education, such as abstinence education, cannot be relied on to prevent the spread of HIV. Many factors go into what makes a prevention program work, from the cultural context to the funding available. Unfortunately, sometimes the funding will not allow the information to be disseminated in a culturally significant way- leaving some of the worlds population most at risk for HIV infection behind.
Recommendations
I believe HIV/AIDS prevention education should be presented in a culturally significant manner. The audience is extremely important. Abstinence until marriage education cannot be presented to members of the gay community as the way to effectively prevent HIV transmission. This is not culturally significant considering that gay marriage is not legal in most states. In addition, it is important to remember the youth; those people who are still in high school. Knowing that 48% of high school students have had sex (Miller & Whitaker, 2001) it would be ignorant to teach these students abstinence education alone.
I believe information should be free to all people. If there is information on how to use condoms, then let the people know this information. There is no empirical evidence that condom education increases the spread of HIV. In fact, most studies show that condom education aids in decreasing the spread of HIV. This being the case, it is important to take each element of the A,B,C (abstinence, be faithful, condoms) approach as an equally important factor in HIV/AIDS prevention. I would rather know that the people of the world have more information, than too little information. In this life and death situation, knowledge is the answer to preserving life.
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control. (2001). HIV prevention strategic plan through 2005. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/
hiv_plan/Table%20of%20Contents.htm.
Miller, K. S., & Whitaker, D.J. (2001). Predictors of mother-adolescent discussions about condoms: implications for providers who serve youth. Pediatrics, 108, E28. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from PubMed database.
Schaffer, A. (2006, April 11). Chastity, M.D.: Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, congress. Slate. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.slate.com/id/2139675.
Singh, S., Darroch, J. E., & Bankole, A. (2004). A, B, C in Uganda: the roles of abstinence, monogamy and condom use in HIV decline. Reproductive Health Matters, 12, 129-135. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from PubMed database.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
landed:
Your blog entry has a bibliography. That has to be the coolest thing ever. Hi.
alexstar6:
Dear LORD... I'm not reading this... I swear to god I love you Kitty but there is no way in hell I'm reading all that at 11:00 pm...