FHI - Appendices

Demographic Characteristics of Focus Group Participants

Savanne

Men
n=26

"Vivavek"¹Women
n=17

Stable² Women
n=36

Mean age (years)
29

31

30

Mean number of children
1.9

3.9

1.7

Percent in stable union²
–

100.0

38.5

Percent in non-stable¹("vivavek") union
100.0

–

61.5

Percent with no formal schooling
76.5

86.1

19.2

Percent literate
23.5

16.7

73.0

Percent Catholic
47.1

63.9

76.9

Percent Protestant³
41.2

19.4

19.2

Percent earning < H$3 per day⁴
93.8

93.5

81.8

Percent with no current income
64.7

77.4

53.8

Percent with group affiliation⁵
11.8

13.9

38.5

Percent currently using a family planning method⁶
–

27.8

–

Percent who have never used a family planning method
82.4

61.1

96.2

Notes:

In this report, the term, "vivavek", also includes "ménaj", "zanmi", and other relatively non-stable relationships.
A stable union is defined here as marriage ("maryaj") or "plasaj".
Voodoo was not specified but may have been concurrent with other religions or included as "other".
Percentages exclude participants who did not answer this question.
Most group affiliation was church-sponsored, as in prayer groups; others were work-related, as in fisherman's cooperatives.
Participants were not asked to differentiate between modern and other methods.

Appendix A (Continued)

Delmas

Men
n=28

Women Factory Workers¹n=27

Women Non-Factory
n=25

Mean age (years)
31

30.5

31

Mean number of children
2.9

2.8

3.4

Percent in stable union²
N/A³

N/A³

42.9

Percent in non-stable union⁴
N/A³

N/A³

57.9

Percent with no formal schooling
33.3

24.0

10.7

Percent literate
70.4

76.0

78.6

Percent Catholic
29.6

60.0

53.6

Percent Protestant⁵
59.3

36.0

52.9

Percent earning < H$3 per day⁶
79.2

100.0

71.4

Percent with no current income
63.0

92.0

67.9

Percent with group affiliation⁷
11.1

12.0

25.0

Percent currently using a family planning method⁸
33.3

28.0

60.7

Percent who have never used a family planning method
40.7

52.0

28.6

Notes:

Includes women currently or formerly employed in factories.
Defined here as marriage (maryaj) or plasaj.
Excluded due to data recording errors.
Also includes vivavek, ménaj, zanmi, and other relatively non-stable relationships.
Voodoo beliefs were not specified but may have been concurrent with other religions or included as "other".
Percentages exclude participants who did not answer this question.
Most group affiliation was church-sponsored (as in prayer groups) or work-related (as in cooperatives), political, or humanitarian.
Participants were not asked to differentiate modern and other methods.

Appendix B

The IHE/AIDSTECH Project on Women and AIDS: Focus Group Guidelines (Translated and abbreviated)

Story for Discussion

Moderator: Joujou is living with a man by the name of René. René is working in a factory, but Joujou is not working. Joujou has four kids at home; the oldest one is seven years old, the youngest one and a half, and she is again pregnant. Before Joujou got pregnant with this last child, she wanted to start using family planning, but René did not want her to. René gives money for food in the house, but it is he who decides what to cook. When the children are sick, Joujou must ask René's permission before she takes them to the clinic.

1. What do you think about the way René and Joujou are living? (Kinds of decisions men and women make together, women's decisions, men's decisions)

2. Who makes the decision when a man and woman "make love?"

3. If a man feels like making love with his woman and the woman does not want to, what can she do? (How does the man react?) (Women's right to refuse sex, refusal strategies, partners' response)

4. What reasons might there be for a woman to refuse to make love with her man? (Women's rights under specific conditions, bargaining)

Moderator: There is another part to the story of Joujou and René. Let's continue it and see what happens ...

Joujou is worried. She has learned that when René goes to town, he often goes to the houses of other women whom he is having affairs with. Joujou does not know what she should do. She does not want to leave René, but she is afraid he will give her AIDS.

5. What do you think this woman should do? (Expectations of behavior for women at risk of HIV)

6. If the woman does what you are saying, how do you think the man will react? (Expectations of male response to protective behavior)

7. Do you think that the woman should talk to the man about the fears she has of contracting AIDS? How can she bring up the subject? How will he react? (Male-female communication on AIDS and AIDS prevention)

8. If the man is having an affair with another woman, can he give the disease to his woman (at home)? How? (Knowledge of HIV transmission)

9. As far as you know, how do people (in general) get AIDS? (Knowledge of HIV transmission)

10. What kind of people get AIDS? Do you fear AIDS? (Transmission, belief in severity, sense of vulnerability, personal fear, appearance of HIV-infected people)

11. What are the consequences of this disease for the family? (Knowledge of the disease, belief in severity)

12. If a woman knows nothing about this disease, how can she get information? What do women want to know? (Formal and non-formal sources of information, desire for information)

13. (Women only) Do women talk to each other about AIDS? When? How do they feel in these discussions? (Nature and circumstances of informal discussion, emotional responses to discussion, level of interest)

Moderator: The woman in the story (Joujou) is afraid that her man may give her AIDS, because she knows that he is having affairs with other women ...

14. How can she protect herself? How will the man react? (Knowledge of prevention, spontaneous reference to condoms, right of women to protect themselves, initiating behavior change, barriers to prevention)

15. Does the woman have the right to ask the man to use condoms? How can she ask him? How will he respond?

15a. If the man does not want to use condoms, can the woman convince him? How? (Empowerment, communication, male response, barriers)

16. In general, are women willing to use condoms? (Women's attitudes toward condoms, response of women to men who initiate condom use)

17. Where can a person get condoms?

18. Are women able to obtain (buy) condoms on their own? (Condom availability, barriers to obtaining condoms)

19. We have heard that not all women have the right to ask a man to use condoms. What can you tell us about that? (Types of women who have/do not have the right to demand condoms)

20. As far as you know, are young people in their teens in danger of contracting AIDS? Why? (Beliefs about adolescent sexual behavior and AIDS risk)

21. How do you think you might help young people avoid getting AIDS? (Responsibility of adults to counsel adolescents, appropriate advisors, nature of advice)

22. If you knew they were sexually active, would you advise young people to use condoms? (Belief in the appropriateness of condoms for adolescents)

23. Some parents say they would not talk to their children about sex. What do you think about that? (Responsibility of parents for sex education)

24. (Women only) You women know what AIDS is about. Do you believe you have a responsibility to protect yourselves? To protect your unborn babies? Please explain what you mean. (Responsibility for prevention, risk of perinatal transmission)

25. (Women only) How do you think women might help each other to be stronger in their relationships with men? (Mutual support for protection against AIDS, sense of collective responsibility)

26. (Men only) You men know what AIDS is about. Do you feel that you have a responsibility to protect your wives? Other women that you may be seeing? Yourselves? Please explain. (Responsibility for prevention, stable and casual partners)

27. As far as you know, would people benefit from talking about AIDS in small groups like this one? (Networking and support)

Haitian Women's Role in Sexual Decision-Making: The Gap Between AIDS Knowledge and Behavior Change

Appendices