Document 2195
 DOCN  M94A2195
 TI    Reproductive rights, sexual rights, and power in Brazilian night school
       students.
 DT    9412
 AU    Paiva V; Stempliuk V; Antunes M; Silveira F; Blessa C; Serrano O;
       NEPAIDS/University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):36 (abstract no. 117D). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94370380
 AB    OBJECTIVES: To identify lessons learned during a two year research
       intervention program among 4200 primary night school students, from poor
       communities in four different districts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, each with
       a high rate of AIDS. METHODS: We performed 130 open-ended interviews
       about AIDS and sexuality among students aged 13-21 from four different
       schools located in residential districts of Sao Paulo, Brazil with high
       AIDS rates. Later, we presented a 3-hour AIDS education interactive
       workshop to 4000 night school students in the same districts. In
       addition, 200 other teenagers from the same two districts participated
       in 15-hour workshops. We conducted 3-hour group sessions after 6 and 12
       months with a random sample of 240 of the first group and 150 of the
       second, stratified by age and sex. Written or taped records were kept of
       every session. RESULTS: The qualitative data indicate that the main
       obstacle to safer sex faced by these poor students after the
       intervention is lack of access to condoms and other reproductive health
       choices. Access to public health services is precarious, and private
       services are inaffordable. Beyond the problem of access and
       affordability, the key obstacles to condom use are gender norms about
       sexuality and the lack of sexual communication, including condom or
       contraceptive negotiation. Females feel much more powerless about
       attempting sexual negotiation, while males feel excluded from
       reproductive decision making. Consistent condom use is still difficult,
       but the students report that after the intervention, all of the
       following increased: AIDS risk perception, voluntary HIV testing, peer
       support for condom use, more positive attitudes towards HIV+ people,
       comfort with condom use, self esteem, individual identification as sex
       and AIDS experts within their own community. DISCUSSION: Interventions
       to encourage maintenance of condom use need to be ongoing and include
       social and cultural variables. AIDS education should always consider
       social and cultural contexts of sexual decision making, and should
       always consider empowering men as well as women in confronting cultural
       obstacles to safer sex.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*PREVENTION & CONTROL/  PSYCHOLOGY
       Adolescence  Adult  Attitude to Health  Brazil  Condoms/UTILIZATION
       Decision Making  Female  Health Services Accessibility  Human  *Human
       Rights  Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice  Male  Power (Psychology)
       Sampling Studies  *Sex Education  MEETING ABSTRACT

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).