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Volume 98, Issue 2 (February 2008)
Norifumi Kamo, Mary Carlson, Robert T. Brennan, and Felton Earls Young Citizens as Health Agents: Use of Drama in Promoting Community Efficacy for HIV/AIDS. American Journal of Public Health: February 2008, Vol. 98, No. 2, pp. 201-204.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.113704

Accepted on: Jun 14, 2007

Young Citizens as Health Agents: Use of Drama in Promoting Community Efficacy for HIV/AIDS

Norifumi Kamo, BA, Mary Carlson, PhD, MPA, Robert T. Brennan, EdD, and Felton Earls, MD

Norifumi Kamo is with Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass. M. Carlson is with the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Camridge. R. T. Brennan and F. Earls are with the Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge.

Peer Reviewed

Contributors N. Kamo and M. Carlson conceptualized the module 3 microbiology skits. N. Kamo is responsible for the maps (Figure 1) and photographs and the initial descriptions of module 3 sessions. M. Carlson designed protocols and schedules for training for modules 1–3 and, along with F. Earls, monitored the implementation of training for modules 1–3 and community performances. R. T. Brennan contributed to the neighborhood selection and was responsible for the data analyses and tables. F. Earls designed the structure of the randomized control trial, the community surveys and health assessments, and led the interpretation of findings and preparation of the article.



ABSTRACT

A community-based cluster randomized control trial in a medium-sized municipality in Tanzania was designed to increase local competence to control HIV/AIDS through actions initiated by children and adolescents aged 10 to 14 years. Representative groups from the 15 treatment communities reached mutual understanding about their objectives as health agents, prioritized their actions, and skillfully applied community drama (“skits”) to impart knowledge about the social realities and the microbiology of HIV/AIDS. In independently conducted surveys of neighborhood residents, differences were found between adults who did and did not witness the skits in their beliefs about the efficacy of children as HIV/AIDS primary change agents.