Grant: Operating Grant - HIV/AIDS CBR Program - General

The goal of the present study is to evaluate a culturally appropriate community-based participatory HIV/AIDS intervention program for Ethiopian immigrants residing in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. By targeting a single immigrant community, the study has advantages in terms of cost and feasibility. This investigation focuses on building community capacity and creating culturally appropriate education programs, with the view to increasing knowledge of HIV/AIDS, reducing sexual risk behaviours (considered to be the main driving force for HIV transmission among Ethiopians), and dispelling stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. The specific research objectives include: (1) Developing and implementing a community-based culturally appropriate education program; and (2) Evaluating the program in terms of changes in participants' (a) knowledge of HIV/AIDS, (b) sexual risk behaviours (e.g. condom use, having non-spousal multiple sexual partners), and (c) perceived stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. We hypothesize that a community-based, culturally appropriate education intervention program will increase the level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and reduce risky sexual behaviours and stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the Ethiopian community.