Ambivalence, silence and gender differences in church leaders' HIV-prevention messages to young people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
A series of semi-structured interviews on HIV prevention were conducted with South African clergy with pastoral and liturgical responsibilities from the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Assemblies of God. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed by interpretive descriptive analysis. Three themes indicative of church leaders' approach to HIV prevention among youth emerged: dilemmas in breaking the silence on HIV and AIDS; ambivalent HIV-prevention messages from church leaders to young people; and gender differences in HIV-prevention messages. While church leaders had taken steps to overcome the stigma, the dilemmas of balancing theological understanding with resistance from their congregations presented a complex scenario. Ambivalence to HIV prevention concerned whose responsibility it was to educate young people about HIV; talking about sexuality in public; pre-marital abstinence and condom use; and resistance from congregation members towards HIV prevention. Finally, findings indicated a discrepancy between church leaders' belief in gender equality and the HIV-prevention messages they verbalised, which appears to burden girls.
Eriksson
Elisabet
E
International Maternal and Child Health, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Sweden. elisabet.eriksson@kbh.uu.se
Lindmark
Gunilla
G
Axemo
Pia
P
Haddad
Beverley
B
Ahlberg
Beth Maina
BM
D001294:Attitude to Health; D002977:Clergy; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013019:South Africa