The Tangled Web Woven: Exploring

Sexual Networks and HIV Through Role-

PlayElizabeth Crosby, MPH (c), Meagan Johnson, MPH, and Jennifer Kincaid, MPH (c)

Boston University School of Public HealthFor IH 887: Maternal and Child Health in Developing Countries

A special thanks to Professors Monita Baba-Djara and James Wolff

Setting the Scene

Global Health Council 2009: Scaling Up Services Goes Hand in Hand with Creating a Greater Demand

Two and a half hour classroom session

Session divided into three parts with various activities

Classroom Activity Context Divided students into four main

groups

Each group was assigned a specific HIV intervention or program to advocate for throughout the session

One activity ran simultaneously throughout the session: The Tangled Web Woven

Major Educational Objectives

Understand concurrency and how this perpetuates transmission of HIV

Understand and experience the process of HIV testing and counseling

Understand and experience the emotional aspects of HIV status disclosure

Inspiration for the Tangled Web

Article (Kohler et al. 2006): mapped sexual network in Malawi that involved 65% of the 7 villages surveyed

Activity Preparation Sexual network constructed from

class roster

Each student’s sexual partners & HIV “test” result were predetermined

HIV Testing Center was set up in the back of the class

Sexual Network

Activity Description

Started by instructing two male students to visit the testing station

No other instructions were given to the class as a whole

Activity Description: Class

After the student was tested and counseled, he was advised to disclose his status to his “partners”

Their partners were told to follow the same procedure, eventually forming a “sexual network” within the classroom

Slide Show

Student Response

Unexpected outcomes and communication breakdown

Allowed for time at the end of the session for students to discuss how they felt during the activity

Students could process the exercise and gain more understanding of the emotional aspects of getting tested for HIV

Applications

Would work best for participants who can handle the content of this role play– Mature undergraduate and graduate

students

Possibly could engage the younger end of the spectrum in a high school health class to illuminate the realities of other sexually transmitted infections.

Benefits

Active participation increases the chance of students retaining learning concepts and objectives

Allows students to experience some of the emotional aspects of HIV and testing and not simply gain factual and theoretical knowledge about the subject

Questions???

Thank You