A Low-Cost HIV Education and Evaluation Program for Low Literacy Populations: An Example from Rural Haiti

Traditional approaches to preventative education are often unfeasible in high-risk, low-literacy populations, not only because many interventions rely on the printed word, but also because of the difficulty in efficiently evaluating programs without written questionnaires or resource-intensive interviews. A community-based HIV/AIDS drama-in-education program was successfully conducted and evaluated with a low-literacy population in rural Haiti.

A community-level program was designed with a group of adolescents in Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti. The youth wrote and performed a drama focusing on HIV/AIDS preventative education. Before and after each of four performances, researchers conducted a ten-question evaluation of HIV/AIDS knowledge, perceptions, and awareness of available services. True/False questions were read aloud, and participants marked “Yes” or “No” in corresponding columns on their answer sheets. Based on the evaluation of the first performance, the script was altered, and subsequent performances led to improved educational outcomes.

Of 1500 attendees, 608 were eligible to complete the evaluation. Eight questions showed significant increases in correct responses. Correct answers to HIV/AIDS knowledge questions improved from an average of 71.9% before the drama to 83.9% afterwards. There were significant changes in those who said they could delay intercourse (63.4% to 71.6%) and in those who knew antiretroviral treatment is available locally (68.0 to 91.2%).

This intervention improved HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes, and is low-cost, measurable, and replicable in most resource-poor settings. This education/evaluation model empowers communities to tailor an intervention to meet their needs, and to.overcome the barrier of illiteracy by taking the challenge of HIV/AIDS education into their own hands.