Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

Indicators for adult men and women
Adult Indicator 1
Knowledge of HIV prevention
methods
Definition
Numerator :
Number of male/female
respondents able to identify
consistent condom use,
mutually monogamy between
HIV negative partners, and
abstaining from sex as
methods of reducing the risk
of contracting HIV, in response
to prompted questions.
Denominator : Total number of male/female
respondents surveyed.
Measurement tools
Adult questionnaire
Q903, Q905, Q906
What it measures
Early assumptions that knowledge about
AIDS and how to prevent it would lead to
behavior change have proven optimistic.
However, there is no doubt that knowledge is
an important prerequisite for behavior change.
Most AIDS programs targeting the general
population promote mutual monogamy and
condom use as the primary ways of avoiding
HIV infection among the sexually active men
and women who make up the majority of
all adults in virtually every population. This
indicator measures the extent to which those
messages have reached the general population
or the specific sub-population surveyed.
How to measure it
The indicator is derived from correct
answers given for both (Q903+Q905) primary
sexual prevention methods for sexually active
adults, following prompted questions in a
survey. Someone only identifying one of the
two ways is not counted in the numerator of
the indicator. All respondents surveyed are
included in the denominator, regardless of
whether they have ever heard of AIDS or not.
The indicator components should also be
reported separately to show changes in
specific knowledge areas.
The precise wording of the prompted
questions must be given careful thought in
each linguistic and cultural context. It should
be noted that the correct prevention methods
prompted for should be interspersed in the
questionnaire with misconceptions used to
calculate the next knowledge indicator.
Strengths and limitations
In many countries, the score on this
indicator will be high and it will be hard to
measure incremental changes. This indicator
is therefore particularly useful in countries
where knowledge is not high. Disaggregation
of the indicator by individual questions,
residence, gender or age group may provide
useful pointers to gaps in information flows.
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C H A PTER 9 B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E S U R V EY S