Worldwide, an estimated 4 million youth, ages 15–24 years, are living with HIV. Youth in Kenya experience a high HIV disease burden. HIV-related stigma is a known barrier to HIV prevention. We evaluated the HIV Stigma-reduction through Education, Empowerment, and Research (SEERs) Project, a conceptually driven program that emerged from community-based participatory research and was designed with and for youth ages 13–24 years in Kenya. We analyzed existing evaluation data from 641 SEERs participants who completed pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up surveys to evaluate changes in HIV knowledge and stigma. Findings revealed a significant increase in HIV knowledge and a significant decrease in HIV-related stigma over time. Despite strong preliminary evidence, research is needed to refine the program and better determine its effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial. Programs such as SEERs can be used in Kenya and other low- to middle-income countries to improve HIV-related health outcomes.
Article
Preliminary findings from the HIV SEERs Project: A community-based participatory research program to reduce HIV stigma among youth in Kenya.
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Disciplines
Abstract
Language
English
Publisher
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Citation Information
Chenneville, T., Gabbidon, K., Drake, H., & Rodriguez, L. (2019). Preliminary findings from the HIV SEERs project: A community-based Participatory Research program to Reduce HIV stigma Among youth in Kenya. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 30(4), 462-473. doi: 10.1097/JNC.0000000000000019