Aids And Abstinence Essay Research Paper Statement

Aids And Abstinence Essay, Research Paper

Statement of Problem

Growing up as a teenager in today s society is not as easy as it may have been in generations past. Young adults of today s era face many social and environmental issues that plague them with immense stress. For example, violence among youth and, more specifically, school shootings and gang violence strike fear among every adolescent s mind before they face each day at school. And the pressure from peers for using and abusing illegal drugs is as strong as it has ever been. But today, the youth of America are faced with a crisis unique to the modern era; the soaring rate of adolescent AIDS infection.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, causes the terminal Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS weakens the body s immune system to a point where any ordinary infection, such as the flu or common cold, can cause death. Originally thought of as a Gay-Man s disease when AIDS was first prevalent in this country in the early eighties, AIDS is now recognized as a major crisis across the country among heterosexuals, in addition to the homosexual population of this country (Mays, Albee, & Schneider, 1989). And in recent years, the rate of occurrence of AIDS among America s youth has increased at an almost exponential rate. The statistics are startling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections occurring each year, over twenty-five percent of those infections occur among youth under the age of twenty. In 1986, 53 adolescents were reported with AIDS. One decade later, the number climbed to 403. And just one year later, in 1997, the number of total cases of adolescent AIDS in the United States reached 2,953 (Fuentes, 1998). Today, AIDS is recognized as the fifth most common cause of death among people ranging from ages 14-24 years (A Decade of Denial: Teens and AIDS in America, 1992).

Negative Consequences

One obvious negative physiological consequence of an AIDS patient is that he or she is going to die. This is because there is currently no cure for AIDS. Once a person contracts this syndrome, their health will not get better. Their immune system is broken down and deteriorated until, finally, some sort of infection puts the sufferer out of his or her misery and causes death.

After being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, the patient is subject to many psychological conditions that are detrimental to his or her physical health, too. The patient may develop depression after learning of their illness. There is no current cure for AIDS, so someone with AIDS knows they will die soon. This knowledge of knowing there is no way out leads to the depression. The patient may also develop anxiety from trying to prevent any infection from invading his or her body because the infection may cause death. Another mental condition that may develop from illness is known as the Health Belief Model. The Health Belief Model refers to the variables that predict behavior including the perceived susceptibility or vulnerability to a health threat, severity of consequences of a disease or health threat, effectiveness of protective actions, and costs of or barriers to protective actions. It also refers to cues to action, such as physician advice or symptoms, and demographic, structural, and social/psychological factors that enable behavior. Somebody with AIDS is effected by the Health Belief Model in a negative way because they re knowledge of their situation causes them to have a pessimistic outlook on their future (Mays, 1989).

Another psychological condition that is a negative consequence of AIDS is self-efficacy . Self-efficacy of an AIDS patient refers to their perception of their inability to perform a behavior due to their lack of ability, effort, luck, or the difficulty of the situation. AIDS patients view themselves as creatures that do not have the capability to fulfill any task due to their failing physical condition. Their energy is drained and thus they feel lazy feel they don t have the ability to carry out a task (Valdiserri, 1989).

One more psychological condition that has a negative effect on an AIDS sufferer s mental health is helplessness. Helplessness refers to the patient s perception of having little control over their lives. This may be due to the fact that they suffer from an incurable, terminal disease, or it may be the result of a low self-esteem. Regardless of the cause, helplessness is a very big step in the wrong direction for AIDS s sufferers because they have come to the realization that they can t help that they re going to die an thus, they give up on any hope to keep fighting. Once a patient reaches this stage, they have lost the will to live, and any sort of gain from life is unobtainable (Valdiserri, 1989).

Previous Interventions

Considering the fact that not having sex can dramatically reduce the risk of contracting HIV or AIDS, many abstinence programs have been launched in schools to educate children across the nation. One such program is the Me, My World, Future Program (Mays et al., 1989). This particular program is taught at both the junior and senior high school levels and has been put into effect at over 2,500 schools across the nation. The junior high level program consists of a three to six week course divided into eighteen different class sessions. The lessons ar