Young Latina farmworker women are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. Additionally, most HIV prevention efforts within the farmworker community have focused predominantly on men and do not take into account issues of gender, age, human sexual development, language ability and appropriate female sharing networks. This presentation will describe Nosotras Viviremos, an effective, culturally, linguistically and developmentally competent HIV prevention curriculum funded by the Division of Adolescent and School Health, CDC.
Nosotras Viviremos is based upon social cognitive theory and social influence interventions. Importantly, it incorporates Paulo Freire’s philosophy of the dialogue or ‘plática’ in a small group setting. This method is effective as a learning methodology as it allows and elicits sharing ideas and experiences in a group setting.
Extensive formative research that included key informant interviews, community mapping, materials pretesting and pilot testing was done to design and develop this curriculum. Based on this, behavioral objectives for the curriculum were set.
As a result, the Nosotras Viviremos curriculum is divided into modules integrating: Information - behavior change requires accurate information to increase awareness of risk (perception of risk), knowledge of risks, basic reproductive health information, STD’s Norms and attitudes - with regards to sexuality in the Latino/Hispanic community, communication styles Skills training - explanation of skills; modeling performance of the skills; discussion of strengths, weaknesses and feasibility of the model’s performance; practice of skills with feedback and social reinforcement
The final Nosotras Viviremos curriculum integrated findings from research with target populations and key community informants. Recommendations on how to develop a prevention curriculum will be given.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this session participants will: know what factors put young farmworker women at risk for HIV infection know the essential components of formative research that needs to be conducted during the planning stages of program development be aware of the importance of cultural awareness and sesnitivity in the interpretation of qualitative data from minority populations be familiar with NOSOTRAS VIVIREMOS goals and objectives
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Public Health Curricula
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: National Coalition of Advocates for Students
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.