AEGiS-15IAC: Developing an online self -test soft ware for increasing AIDS knowledge & awareness.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Developing an online self -test soft ware for increasing AIDS knowledge & awareness.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. C10838)

Sadangi SK, Pati S
East Coast Railways, Bhubaneswar, India

BACKGROUND: India has had a dramatic spurt in the estimated number of HIV infections in the last decade. With a Population of one billion, the HIV epidemics in India will have a major impact on the overall spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There has been hardly any effort to use ICT for controlling this deadly epidemic. Awareness and Knowledge of HIV/AIDS forms a crucial component of AIDS Prevention and control. Keeping in view of these, this project was designed for increasing AIDS Awareness through simple IT solutions. Target group: Adolescent in schools and out of school youth, youths engaged in informal sectorsGoal: To increase the HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Awareness through ICTProject

DESCRIPTION: This Online Knowledge Self-Test software projects a set of questions on the computer screen (drawn randomly from a pre-designed Knowledge Data base related to HIV/AIDS ) in a given Knowledge-Test session and requires the target audience to make correct choice for a question out of multiple alternatives. Even the sequence of alternatives to a given question in different sessions is randomized for eliminating superficial familiarity with the question itself. The participant can undertake multiple sessions over a period of time at his own will under an assumed user name and password. The scores of individual session and the correct answers to the question are displayed at the end of the session as a motivational input for the participants to try for higher score and in the process increasing their AIDS Awareness. Since the sessions takes place under total privacy and in a non-judgmental environment a participant tends to give his natural response and is inclined to take such a test more often. The software also has the capability to be directly uploaded to internet. A huge question-bank related to AIDS Awareness has been created carefully by a team of doctors and moderated by the existing psycho-social norms. Pilot test already completed in 2003.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Awareness, Knowledge, HIV Seropositivity, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Students, Schools, Adolescent Behavior, India, Adolescent, Humans, Adolescence

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C10838