Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

Q910 - Q912 : Knowledge of maternal/
infant (vertical) transmission of HIV may be
another key knowledge indicator for many
target groups. Q910 asks if the respondent
believes a pregnant woman can pass on HIV
to her unborn child. Q911 then asks what
specifically a mother can do to reduce the
risk of passing on HIV to her unborn child,
in order to find out if people are aware of
medication that can be given during pregnancy
or at delivery. Other responses that might
be mentioned may be written in the line next
to OTHER. More than one answer is possible.
Do not read out the possible answers.
Circle 2 for NO for each possible answer
not mentioned. Q912 find out whether
respondents are aware that a mother can
pass on the virus to her newborn child
through breastfeeding.
Q913-Q916 : These four questions concern
HIV testing. The first asks if respondents
believe it is possible in the community to get
a confidential HIV test, defining confidential.
Then they are asked if they have ever been
tested (Q914). Please be sure to let the
respondent know that you are not interested
in knowing the results, this might encourage
their willingness to respond to the question.
Q915 seeks to find out the incidence of
persons who have voluntarily done the test
and Q916 if they found out the result.
Respondents are not asked the specific result
of the test.
Section 10 : Exposure to interventions
Many target groups may have already been
exposed to HIV prevention programming.
The BSS research team may want to assess in
section 10 the degree of exposure of members
of the target group to past interventions. These
questions should be very specific questions
about interventions in the geographic area,
such as questions about having talked to
a peer educator, being aware of a certain
campaign slogan, knowing a specific brand of
socially marketed condoms, or using a certain
health facility where STD services have been
upgraded. This section can be eliminated if
the target group and/or geographic area have
not been exposed to previous interventions,
or more general questions can be added about
sources of knowledge about HIV, AIDS and
STDs. This section provides an important
opportunity to assess penetration of various
past interventions.
At the end of the interview, thank the
respondent for their time and reassure them
again that their name will not be associated
with any information from the survey results.
B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E SURV EY S APPEN DI X 2
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