Skip Navigation



Health Education Research Advance Access published online on October 3, 2006
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyl103
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/4/500    most recent
cyl103v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Plummer, M. L.
Right arrow Articles by Ross, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Plummer, M. L.
Right arrow Articles by Ross, D. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 25, 2005
Accepted August 14, 2006

Original article

A process evaluation of a school-based adolescent sexual health intervention in rural Tanzania: the MEMA kwa Vijana programme

Mary L. Plummer 1 *, D. Wight 2, A. I. N. Obasi 3, J. Wamoyi 4, G. Mshana 5, J. Todd 6, B. C. Mazige 7, M. Makokha 7, R. J. Hayes 6, and D. A. Ross 6

1 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK; Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Medical Research Council, Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK
2 Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Medical Research Council, Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK
3 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
4 NIMR/AMREF/LSHTM Collaborative Projects, Mwanza, Tanzania
5 National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza, Tanzania
6 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
7 African Medical and Research Foundation, Mwanza, Tanzania

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Mary L. Plummer, E-mail: mary.plummer{at}lshtm.ac.uk


  Abstract

This study is a process evaluation of the school component of the adolescent sexual health programme MEMA kwa Vijana (MkV), which was implemented in 62 primary schools in rural Mwanza, Tanzania from 1999 to 2001. The MkV curriculum was a teacher-led and peer-assisted programme based on the Social Learning Theory. Process evaluation included observation of training sessions, monitoring and supervision, annual surveys of implementers, group discussions and 158 person-weeks of participant observation. Most teachers taught curriculum content well, but sometimes had difficulty adopting new teaching styles. Peer educators performed scripted dramas well, but were limited as informal educators and behavioural models. The intervention appeared successful in addressing some cognitions, e.g. knowledge of risks and benefits of behaviours, but not others, e.g. perceived susceptibility to risk. MkV shared the characteristics of other African school-based programmes found to be successful, and similarly found significant improvements in self-reported behaviour in surveys. However, a substantial proportion of MkV survey self-reports were inconsistent, there was no consistent impact on biological markers and extensive process evaluation found little impact on several key theoretical determinants of behaviour. Improvements in self-reported survey data alone may provide only a very limited--and perhaps invalid--indication of adolescent sexual health programme success.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.