The goal of the PSU/HSRC capacity strengthening and building project is to train students who will be mentored by faculty to conduct cultural and gender-based HIV/AIDS intervention research.
The research aim i s to reduce and eliminate stigmatization of persons infected with HIV/AIDS. This PSU/HSRC partnership project is to develop and strengthen faculty and student research on persons living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The research will be conducted in five communities/townships over five years focusing on factors related to stigmatization of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
The specific aims are to: a) strengthen capacity of 10 faculty members to train 40 students to conduct exploratory research on HIV/AIDS stigma; b) develop a network of researchers at UWC that will be extended to other historically Black (Africans, Colored, and Indian) universities in South Africa; and c) facilitate partnership with researchers at PSU Department of Biobehavioral Health, The College of Health and Human Development (CHHD) Methodology Center, and the CHHD Prevention Center. Capacity strengthening and building training will be conducted at both University Park in the U.S. and Cape Town, South Africa. The training will include using quantitative and qualitative methods to study HIV stigma from culture and gender perspectives. Students will spend a total of six weeks in the community conducting exploratory studies in different community subpopulations under their faculty mentors. Findings from the exploratory study will be used to develop an HIV/AIDS stigma index and a research application for population-based study in South Africa. The stigma index will be incorporated into the tri-annual SABBSM Survey.
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