Unveiling their worlds: the use of dialogue as a health-promotion tool for HIV/AIDS education in a poor community in Kenya

Abstract

Three decades since the onset of HIV/AIDS, 33.2 million people worldwide are infected and prevalence in Kenya is on the rise. This paper contributes to discussions about HIV/AIDS education and draws on the health promotion approach and the emancipatory theory of Paulo Freire. Freire argued that through dialogue people unveil their world. The researchers used the method of dialogue to facilitate parents' and teachers' reflections on sexuality education for the children. The dialogues seemed to facilitate some reflection and showed the attitudes of the community to matters that impact on sexuality education (e.g. gender and sexuality). This paper illustrates how dialogic processes can be useful to the process of constructing realistic and contextually relevant HIV/AIDS education. The challenges for the researcher as an outsider are also discussed.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the teachers and parents in the study for their insights and time. They thank the Smuts Memorial Fund, University of Cambridge for their financial support. The authors acknowledge Madeleine Arnot, Nidhi Singhal and the Education, Equality and Development academic group at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge for their feedback after the presentation of this paper. They also thank Anne Hickling-Hudson of Queensland University of Technology, Australia, for her insights and responses to several drafts of the paper.

Notes

^1. This survey was funded by the US government, costing US$6 million.

^2. A pseudonym.