Abstract:
Background: For adolescents living with HIV (ALWH), school may be the most important but understudied social
sphere related to HIV stigma. Teachers are role models in the classroom and within the community, and their
attitudes and behavior towards people living with HIV may have critical psychosocial and treatment ramifications.
Altering teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs (K/A/B) about HIV could reduce the stigmatizing content within
their teaching, classrooms and school, improving the environment for ALWH.
Methods: We developed a one-day teacher training module to enrich teacher K/A/B that included lecture
presentations, HIV films and educational animation, structured instructions for teacher role play scenarios, and a
question-and-answer session facilitated by a trained ALWH peer educator. We also conducted key informant
interviews with education sector subject matter experts (SMEs), including education officers, county commissioners
and head teachers to review and provide feedback on the teacher training module.
Results: We assembled an adolescent community advisory board and recruited 50 SMEs to review the training
module and provide feedback. All SME participants stressed the importance and need for interventions to reduce
stigma in the classroom, highlighting their own experiences observing stigmatizing behaviors in the community.
The participants perceived the training as culturally relevant and easy to understand and had minor suggestions for
improvement, including using image-based resources and brighter colors for ease of reading. All participants
thought that the training should be expanded outside of the schools, as all people in a community have a role in
the reduction of HIV stigma, and offered suggestions for other settings for implementation.
Conclusion: Data from interviews with education sector stakeholders demonstrate that our process
