Advisory Committee Chair
Cynthia Petri
Advisory Committee Members
Gypsy Abbott
Laura Forbes
Sandra Sims
Stuart Usdan
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2010
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Education
Abstract
The Alabama State Department of Education has guidelines for educators to insure HIV information is taught by teachers starting in fifth grade (Alabama Course of Study: Health Education, 2009). As assessed by The School Health Profile (Profiles), 55% of Alabama teachers received professional development on HIV/AIDS. In addition, less than half of grades 9-12 teachers taught how condoms work, the importance of consistent condom use, and how to obtain condoms (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS) administered to grades 9-12 determined that 57% of youth in Alabama are sexually active, with 19% of those having 4 or more partners, while only 58% used a condom during last sexual intercourse (Centers for Disease Control, 2008). The HIV/AIDS Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control Scales for Teachers was developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1988) and piloted for psychometric properties before use in final phase of study. Three scales were used to answer the research question: What are the predictors of intention to teach comprehensive HIV prevention education among Alabama's 5th-12th grade teachers responsible for teaching HIV content? The survey included the HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes Scales for Teachers (Koch & Singer, 1998), the HIV/AIDS Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control Scales for Teachers as well as the Intention Scale utilized in previous research (Burak, 1994; Lin & Wilson, 1998). Multiple linear regression analysis with cross-validation was used on a sample of 617 Alabama teachers to develop a prediction equation to test the null hypothesis of no difference between predicted and actual intention scores for teaching comprehensive HIV prevention education. The best predictors of intention were found to be ethnicity, attitude, general HIV/AIDS knowledge and knowledge of transmission of HIV (p< .001); previous health course in college (p=.032); health degree (p=.035); professional development on HIV/AIDS (p=.028); primary subject taught (p=.032); perceived behavioral control (p=.050). The null hypothesis was rejected as no difference was found between predicted and actual intention scores. Future research should focus on replicating the study among different regions and populations across the United States.
Recommended Citation
Powell, Steven Brent, "Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of teachers in Alabama concerning comprehensive HIV education" (2010). All ETDs from UAB. 2744.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/2744