OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
| ![[SIT Logo]](../images/sitr.gif) |
MATERIALS
PRESENTATION GUIDE
This lesson is straightforward. For most presentations, you can simply go over the material found in the fact sheet. This guide simply provides comments on how you might present the material, suggestions for eliciting participant discussion and descriptions of supplementary material and activities you may want to use. Don't feel like you have to follow or use everything in it. You know your audience better than anyone else, you know how much time you have to make your presentation and you have your own unique ways of presenting material you're most comfortable with.
Presentation Option 1
Consider centering this lesson around the video titled "A Letter from Bryan." It is approximately 28 minutes long and revolves around a teenage couple that are seriously dating and about to have sexual intercourse for the first time. Before this happens, the girl receives a letter from Bryan, an old boyfriend she met while at summer camp. Bryan shares the fact that he has AIDS. The girl "freaks," her friends are supportive and there is a lot of discussion and questioning among the teens that leads to some serious and mature decisions.
The video can be shown after a short introduction on HIV/AIDS. The introduction should include what "HIV" and "AIDS" stand for and emphasize the following key points:
- HIV infection includes more than AIDS.
- You can protect yourself.
- If you don't have sex or share needles with an infected partner, you greatly reduce your risk.
- You cannot get HIV through casual contact.
- You cannot get HIV from giving blood.
Explain to the group that you are going to show a video and that they should be thinking of questions to ask after it is over.
After your have shown the video, lead a short discussion on the content. Reemphasize that HIV is transmitted only:
- By having vaginal, anal or oral sex with someone who is infected with HIV.
- By sharing needles or syringes with an HIV positive person.
- From an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth or, rarely, breast feeding.
- Through blood transfusions. (Be sure to emphasize that people are very unlikely to contract HIV this way in the United States today. Since 1985, all donated blood and plasma has been tested for antibodies to HIV and people who are at risk of being infected with certain germs, including HIV, are not allowed to give blood.)
You also need to reemphasize the fact that sexual abstinence is the best way to protect oneself from HIV/AIDS. If someone is sexually active, however, they should always use a condom.
Answer any questions you receive in a factual, non-judgmental manner. Avoid controversy. Do not encourage myths or judgmental questions from the group.
If time is available, you can go over any material from the "Learn the Facts About HIV/AIDS" fact sheet that has not come out in the discussion.
Presentation Option 2
If your group is composed of high-school aged teens, you may want to use the 28-minute video titled "Just Like Us: AIDS Prevention" instead of "A Letter from Bryan." It includes interviews with seven attractive HIV-positive young people, most of whom got the virus through heterosexual sex. It's designed to help viewers understand that anyone can get AIDS. In the process, it both promotes "safer sex" and sends an abstinence message.
If you use this video, introduce the topic of HIV/AIDS and follow-up the video the same way as suggested in "Presentation Option 1."
Presentation Option 3
If you decide not to use either video, you can simply go over the material found in the fact sheet.
INTRODUCTION
Go over the material in the first two paragraphs of the fact sheet. Be sure to emphasize the fact that sexually active teens are "at risk" of contracting HIV/AIDS.
WHAT IS HIV/AIDS?
Be sure participants understand what HIV and AIDS stand for. Emphasize the facts that people can be infected with HIV a long time before developing AIDS and that there is no known cure for AIDS.
HOW IS HIV SPREAD?
Go over the four ways HIV is spread. (If an overhead projector is available, use "How HIV Is Spread" to make a transparency.)
HOW IS HIV NOT SPREAD?
Emphasize the fact that you cannot get HIV through casual contact or everyday activities and go over the list of ways HIV is not spread. (Use "How HIV Is Not Spread" to make a transparency.)
WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM HIV?
Go over the steps participants can take to avoid contracting HIV. (Use "Steps for Avoiding HIV" to make a transparency.)
WHAT IF I DO HAVE SEX?
Go over the steps sexually active participants can take to lower their risk of HIV infection. (Use "Sexually Active People Can Lower Their Risk of HIV By" to make a transparency.)
Be sure to stress the importance of using latex condoms and the spermicide nonoxynol-9.
WHAT ABOUT HIV AND SPORTS OR PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES?
Make participants aware of the normal first-aid procedures they should follow if someone gets an open wound. Emphasize the fact that contracting HIV through everyday physical activities is highly unlikely, however.
WHAT ABOUT KISSING?
Reassure participants that kissing is generally safe. The only way you may become infected by kissing is through open sores or bleeding gums.
WHAT CAN I DO IF A FRIEND HAS HIV OR AIDS?
Emphasize the fact that people with HIV or AIDS need the support of friends and go over some of the things participants can do to be supportive.
Finally, consider ending your presentation by going over the material found in the box at the end of the fact sheet. It provides a good summary of the major points participants need to remember.
AUTHOR: Gary L. Hansen, Ph.D., Extension Specialist in Sociology, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky; and William W. Mallory, Fayette County Extension Agent for 4-H/Youth Development, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky.
