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A comparison of the Girlfriends Project to the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power

Myers, Marlana Siobhan (2011) A comparison of the Girlfriends Project to the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper is an examination of the potentially efficacy of a group based intervention called the Girlfriends Project, which specifically targeted African American women for HIV and STI education in the home. The premise of the project was that by having HIV discussions in an environment where women did not feel judged or intimidated, and where they were surrounded by "girlfriends," that the stigma attached to sex and HIV would be diminished. Because African American women suffered disproportionality for HIV and STIs, interventions that could effectively reduce the rate of infection among that population were greatly needed. Therefore, the public health significance of this essay was to evaluate whether the Girlfriends Project was an intervention that could fill that need. The hypothesis of this paper was that because the Girlfriends Project addressed a majority of the elements designated as necessary for behavioral change by the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power, the Girlfriends Project would be effective in reducing the incidence of HIV and STI among African American women by increasing the use of risk-reduction behaviors.In this paper the components of the Girlfriends Project were compared to each of the individual elements of the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power. From this comparison it was found that the components of the Girlfriends Project were in fact congruent with the elements of the both theories. From the apparent congruency, it was concluded that there appeared to be evidence that if widely disseminated the Girlfriends Project had the potential to be effective in changing the attitudes and social norms of African American women, which in turn would lead to behavior change that would reduce the incidence of HIV and STI among African American women. While the evidence supported the hypothesis of the efficacy of the Girlfriends Project there were several gaps in the Girlfriends Project where it could have more fully addressed the elements of the SCT and the TGP. Recommendations were provided which would allow the Girlfriends project to fill those gaps and more effectively achieve their goal.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Myers, Marlana Siobhanmyersms21@yahoo.com
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairNolan, Bethnolanbeth@gmail.com
Committee MemberKeane, Christophercrkcity@pitt.eduCRKCITY
Committee MemberMarx, Johnjmarx@pitt.eduJMARX
Date: 23 September 2011
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 11 July 2011
Approval Date: 23 September 2011
Submission Date: 1 August 2011
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: School of Public Health > Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
Degree: MPH - Master of Public Health
Thesis Type: Master's Thesis
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: African American women; STI; Girlfriends Project; HIV
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08012011-100947/, etd-08012011-100947
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:56
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:47
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8810

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