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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 May;35(5):643-650.
doi: 10.1080/09540121.2022.2119473. Epub 2022 Sep 5.

Multi-media teacher training and HIV-related stigma among primary and secondary school teachers in Western Kenya

Winstone Nyandiko  1   2 , Ashley Chory  1   3 , Aaron Baum  3 , Josephine Aluoch  1 , Celestine Ashimosi  1 , Michael Scanlon  1   4 , Roxanne Martin  3 , Juddy Wachira  1   5 , Whitney Beigon  1 , Dennis Munyoro  1 , Edith Apondi  1   6 , Rachel Vreeman  1   3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Multi-media teacher training and HIV-related stigma among primary and secondary school teachers in Western Kenya

Winstone Nyandiko et al. AIDS Care. 2023 May.

Abstract

ABSTRACTHIV stigma is associated with delayed HIV disclosure and worse clinical outcomes for adolescents living with HIV (ALWH). Teachers critically influence school environments, but are understudied in terms of HIV stigma. We implemented a school-level, cluster-randomized trial to assess the impact of a one-day multi-media training on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs (K/A/B) of school teachers in western Kenya. Teachers' K/A/B were evaluated at baseline and six months. Additionally, we assessed stigma with ALWH enrolled in the included schools to explore the impact of the training. Teachers (N = 311) and ALWH (N = 19) were enrolled from 10 primary and 10 secondary schools. The intervention and control groups did not significantly differ in overall stigma score (mean 1.83 vs. 1.84; adjusted difference, 0.18 [95% CI, -0.082 to 0.045]) at six months; however, we found a trend towards improvement in overall stigma score and a significant difference in the community discrimination sub-scale among secondary school teachers (mean 3.02 vs. 3.19; adjusted difference, -0.166 [95% CI, -0.310 to -0.022]). ALWH reported few experiences of discrimination, but emphasized keeping their HIV status secret (84%). The teacher-training reduced secondary school teacher perceptions of community-level stigma, but did not impact individual attitudes or beliefs..

Keywords: HIV; adolescents; community intervention; school; stigma; teachers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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