Ability of HIV Advocacy to Modify Behavioral Norms and Treatment Impact
A Systematic Review
Bibliographic Data
Background. HIV advocacy programs are partly responsible for the global community’s success in reducing the burden of HIV. The rising wave of the global burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has prompted the World Health Organization to espouse NCD advocacy efforts as a possible preventive strategy. HIV and NCDs share some similarities in their chronicity and risky behaviors, which are their associated etiology. Therefore, pooled evidence on the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs and ideas shared could be replicated and applied during the conceptualization of NCD advocacy programs. Such evidence, however, has not been systematically reviewed to address the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs, particularly programs that aimed at changing public behaviors deemed as risk factors. Objectives. To determine the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs and draw lessons from those that are effective to strengthen future noncommunicable disease advocacy programs. Search methods. We searched for evidence regarding the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs in medical databases: PubMed, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus, Educational Resources and Information Center, and Web of Science, with articles dated from 1994 to 2014. Search criteria. The review protocol was registered before this review. The inclusion criteria were studies on advocacy programs or interventions. We selected studies with the following designs: randomized controlled design studies, pre–post intervention studies, cohorts and other longitudinal studies, quasi-experimental design studies, and cross-sectional studies that reported changes in outcome variables of interest following advocacy programs. We constructed Boolean search terms and used them in PubMed as well as other databases, in line with a population, intervention, comparator, and outcome question. The flow of evidence search and reporting followed the standard Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. Data collection and analysis. We selected 2 outcome variables (i.e., changing social norms and a change in impact) out of 6 key outcomes of advocacy interventions. We assessed the risk of bias for all selected studies by using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized studies and using the Risk of Bias for Nonrandomized Observational Studies for observational studies. We did not grade the collective quality of evidence because of differences between the studies, with regard to methods, study designs, and context. Moreover, we could not carry out meta-analyses because of heterogeneity and the diverse study designs; thus, we used a narrative synthesis to report the findings. Main results. A total of 25 studies were eligible, of the 1463 studies retrieved from selected databases. Twenty-two of the studies indicated a shift in social norms as a result of HIV advocacy programs, and 3 indicated a change in impact. We drew 6 lessons from these programs that may be useful for noncommunicable disease advocacy: (1) involving at-risk populations in advocacy programs, (2) working with laypersons and community members, (3) working with peer advocates and activists, (4) targeting specific age groups and asking support from celebrities, (5) targeting several, but specific, risk factors, and (6) using an evidence-based approach through formative research. Author conclusions. HIV advocacy programs have been effective in shifting social norms and facilitating a change in impact. Public health implications. The lessons learned from these effective programs could be used to improve the design and implementation of future noncommunicable disease advocacy programs
Monitoring and surveillance of chronic non-communicable diseases
Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis
Systematic review of the effectiveness of mass communication programs to change HIV/Aids-related behaviors in developing countries
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010
Participatory evaluation of counselling, medical and social services of The Aids Support Organization (Taso) in Uganda
Assessing effects of a media campaign on HIV/Aids awareness and prevention in Nigeria
Uganda's HIV Prevention Success
Evaluation of an HIV Prevention Intervention for African Americans and Hispanics
Trends in condom use among female sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, India
HIV-Related Stigma and Knowledge in the United States
Mass Media as an HIV-Prevention Strategy
Hombres Sanos
Changing Aids-risk behavior
Conceptualizing the influence of social agents of behavior change
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |