HIV/AIDS Preventive Education amongst Biology Teachers: Assessing Knowledge and Attitudinal Change

Abstract

This study aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS Preventive Education that employed the Five-Phase Constructivist Teaching Sequence among Biology teachers on their understanding and attitudinal change. The participants in this study consisted of 42 Biology teachers (9 males and 33 females) who represented 29 MARA Junior Science Colleges in Malaysia. A mixed-methodological design was used. Thequalitative data from participants’ self-reported views in elicitation and review phases, and quantitative data from the one-group pretest-posttest design as measured by a 43- item questionnaire with sufficient content validity and adequate KR-20 reliability of 0.77, were compared and interweaved to provide a fuller and deeper understanding of the phenomenon at hand. The analysis of the quantitative dataset using the t-test for paired samples indicated that the posttest mean percentage score for knowledge and understanding (91.19) was statistically significantly higher (t = 15.25, p < .001) than the pretest mean percentage score (70.24), and that the +2.52 effect size obtained was educationally significant. Such markedly increase in knowledge was triangulated by the self-reported views of the Biology teachers in which the qualitative data analysed through a recursive process resulted in the emerging of four overarching key themes in terms of what the Biology teachers have learnt about HIV and AIDS which they did not know prior to the intervention: modes of HIV transmission, the concept of window period, the concept of CD4 cell count, and HIV status by look. Equally, the paired samples t-test for attitudinal change indicated that the posttest mean percentage score (74.18) was statistically significantly higher than the pretest mean percentage score (66.67) and that the +0.52 effect size obtained was educationally significant. Finally, a reflection on this study was given in terms of problems encountered and lessons learnt, culminating in a discussion of implications for future research.