An intervention programme to change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of members of the South African Police Service

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is any change in the HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) employees after attending the HIV/AIDS intervention programme. One hundred and eight employees who attended the HIV/AIDS awareness workshop participated as experimental group (n=51) while those who attended the suicide prevention and disability workshop participated as control group (n=57). Pre-tests were administered before the workshops to all participants while the post-tests were administered after the workshops. The results were analysed using 2(Group: Experimental versus Control Group) x 2(Time: Pre-test versus Post-test, a repeated measure) Analyses of Variances (ANOVA). The research findings showed that there was a significant change in HIV/AIDS knowledge after employees have attended the HIV/AIDS awareness workshop. Results also indicated that there was a significant mean score difference in HIV/AIDS knowledge among the rank groups (Administration, Junior, and senior) with administration and junior employees having more HIV/AIDS knowledge than senior employees. There was also a significant mean score difference in HIV/AIDS attitude among ranks with employees in the senior ranks having less positive attitudes than the employees in the administration and junior ranks. There was a significant interaction between the ranks and the time of testing because those in higher ranks had higher gains in knowledge than those in lower ranks. vi In terms of HIV/AIDS knowledge among age groups, the study revealed that there was a significant main effect of age group (22-33, 34-43, 44 and over years) with older people having less HIV/AIDS knowledge than younger employees. There was also a significant main effect of age group and attitude, with employees of 44 years and over having less favourable HIV/AIDS attitudes than employees in the 22-33 and 34-43 years groups. The study also suggested that further study should look in the problems encountered at implementing the HIV/AIDS intervention programmes and also at what is causing the gap in HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude among age and rank groups.