Positive Young People Research Articles

An analysis of Knowledge of Sexual and Reproductive Health among Adolescents and Young persons Living with HIV: The case of Chitungwiza, Harare, Zimbabwe

It has been decades into the HIV pandemic, the position of the disease has advanced significantly from death sentence to a chronically manageable disease that can be lived with for long time. This evolution was made possible with the advent of antiretroviral therapy which allowed HIV infected children to reach adulthood. However, sexual, and reproductive needs of these generations remain unattended in many countries. The study sought to highlight the sexual and reproductive health issues affecting young people living with HIV in Chitungwiza and Waterfalls communities, targeting HIV positive young people aged 15-24 years. A mixed methods approach was adopted in which, Qualitative and Quantitative research methods were employed. A survey was conducted with 113 young people to quantify sexual and reproductive health issues affecting young people living with HIV (YPLWH). To solicitate community perceptions and opinions on childbearing among the Adolescents and Young persons living with HIV, 8 focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted to qualify the data from the survey. The findings indicated that sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge heavily impacts YPLWH’. Socio-cultural barriers are major inhibiting factors limiting YPLWH. The study recommends that academic research, NGOs, and other stakeholders with support from the Ministry of Health, should conduct more studies on emerging HIV and SRH issues which will help in addressing knowledge gaps and provide evidence-based knowledge in public health. Overall, this will improve the reproductive health outcomes of young people living with HIV.

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP ) and the Malleability of Ageist Attitudes

The current study examined the malleability of implicit attitudes using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). In Experiment 1, “similar” and “opposite” were presented as response options with the sample terms “old people” and “young people” and various positive and negative target stimuli. Results showed significantly faster response latencies for consistent (e.g., Similar- Positive-Young People) compared to inconsistent tasks (e.g., Similar-Positive-Old People). Explicit measures did not correlate with this IRAP effect. Experiment 2 determined whether prior exposure to pictures of admired and disliked old and young individuals had an impact on IRAP performance. Results revealed that pro-old exemplars reduced the pro-young IRAP effect, but reversed the anti-old effect, and this held for 24 h; explicit measures were largely unaffected. The findings suggest that the IRAP provides an informative measure of attitudechange following pro- versus anti-exemplar training.