Myths, science and stories: working with peer educators to counter HIV/AIDS myths

Abstract

The failure to bring about widespread or effective behavioural change in response to South Africa's HIV epidemic requires that new forms of health communication be explored. This article reports on an action research project in which a group of workplace HIV/AIDS peer educators at a South African mining company recorded HIV/AIDS myths that they encountered, around which they then developed stories as an alternative response to repeating factual, scientific messages, which seem to have little effect on target populations. A total of 16 stories were developed during the project. Some of the peer educators appeared to be much better at using stories within their activities than others. In part, this was a reflection of the enthusiasm and abilities of individual peer educators. It was also observed that the stories were used to respond to situations that were sometimes quite different from the original stimulus for the story. The complex range of skills that allows an individual to introduce and effectively use a story in day-to-day conversation should not be underestimated. The article suggests that rather than repeating the project's focus on developing stories tailored to specific HIV/AIDS myths, a more effective approach could be to develop stories that support core messages for facilitating HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

Keywords:

• action research
• communication
• health education
• HIV/AIDS education
• peer education
• South Africa
• storytelling
• workplace

Notes

1 Poverty reduction and the empowerment of women and girls within sexual relationships are alternative approaches to the perceived failure of HIV/AIDS education. However, such strategies are achievable only within a much longer timeframe.

2 An additional use of the term myth within the HIV/AIDS literature refers not to individuals’ beliefs, but to how HIV and AIDS is conceptualised globally by agencies, organisations and governments. For example, Peter Piot’s (2008) lecture ‘AIDS exceptionalism revisited’ contains a list of six such myths that he postulates undermine the global response to HIV and AIDS; other examples are Irwin, Millen & Fallows (2003) and Shelton (2007).

3 Ethical clearance for the project was obtained from the Wits Human Research Ethics Committee, Protocol No. HO 90202

4 While Table 1 lists official South African languages and Fanagolo, in reality much communication is conducted in Isiscamto or Sekasi – the constantly evolving, hybrid language of the townships (older versions being known as Tsotsitaal), as well as ‘code switching’ between languages.

5 Obviously, the vox-pop technique is ‘rough-and-ready,’ given the fluctuating number of peer educators in the different workshops, the problems of memory recall, and the overlap between firsthand conversations, reported conversations and media output (which may then be incorporated into conversations). Nevertheless, it provided a useful pointer as to how common a particular myth might be.