Community Influences on Young People's HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices

描述（申请人提供）：背景：以年轻人为目标是战胜全球艾滋病毒/艾滋病流行病的关键，尽管人们对影响年轻人的知识、态度和性行为的个人和家庭因素给予了很大的关注，但对社区结构要素的作用仍然知之甚少。目的：我们将估计社区环境的几个方面对一个年轻人的艾滋病毒/艾滋病知识的影响，对其他艾滋病毒/艾滋病患者的态度和最近的性行为在三个国家：布基纳法索，加纳和赞比亚。数据和方法：分析样本为布基纳法索（2003年）、加纳（2003年）和赞比亚（2001- 2002年）最近人口和健康调查中的男性和女性（15-24岁）。代表社区经济繁荣，性别规范和不平等，卫生保健基础设施和知识，态度和行为的社区一级变量将被检查。一个多层次的建模策略将被应用到确定的作用，社区一级的年轻人的艾滋病毒/艾滋病的知识，他们的态度与其他艾滋病毒/艾滋病，他们最近的性行为的特点。重要性：以往对青年人的知识、态度和行为的研究只审查了社区单一要素的作用;这项研究在其对社区整体观点的概念化方面具有创新性，审查了经济、社会和规范性社区特征在决定青年人的知识、态度和行为方面的作用。这项研究将提供新的信息，说明社区的物质、行为、社会和规范环境的特点与青年人的知识、态度和行为之间的关系。除了加强社区对健康影响的科学领域外，这项研究还将引起人们对审查社区对其他健康结果的影响的兴趣，并将导致更大的动力来改善社区一级数据的收集。创新的方法和社区的概念化可以用来检查在国内和国际环境中的其他健康成果。该研究还将确定可用于制定公共卫生干预措施的社区特征，加强公共卫生实践，以改进旨在减少年轻人艾滋病毒传播的计划和政策。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Background: Targeting young people is essential in defeating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and although much attention has been given to the individual and familial factors that influence the knowledge, attitudes and sexual behavior of young people, the role of structural elements of the community remains poorly understood. Objectives: We will estimate the influence of several dimensions of the community environment on a young person's knowledge of HIV/AIDS, attitudes towards others with HIV/AIDS and recent sexual behaviors in three countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana and Zambia. Data and Method: The analysis samples are males and females (15-24) from the latest Demographic and Health Surveys from Burkina Faso (2003), Ghana (2003) and Zambia (2001-02). Community level variables representing economic prosperity, gender norms and inequalities, the health care infrastructure and knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in the community will be examined. A multilevel modeling strategy will be applied to identify the role of community level characteristics in young people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS, their attitudes to others with HIV/AIDS, and their recent sexual behaviors. Significance: Previous studies of young people's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors have examined only the role of single elements of the community; this research is innovative in its conceptualization of a holistic view of the community, examining the role of economic, social and normative community characteristics in determining young people's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. This research will provide new information on the associations between characteristics of a community's physical, behavioral, social and normative environment and young people's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. In addition to strengthening the scientific field of community influences on health, the research will generate interest in examining community influences on other health outcomes, and will lead to a greater motivation to improve the collection of community level data. The innovative methodology and conceptualization of the community can be employed to examine other health outcomes in both domestic and international settings. The research will also identify community characteristics that can be harnessed in the development of public health interventions, strengthening public health practice for the improvement of program and policy aimed at reducing HIV transmission among young people.