Independent evaluation of the SAPLER peer counselling programme
Four scales were developed from the questionnaire as global indicators of learners’ standing with regard to safe sex knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.
Knowledge of safe sex scale
Items 18 to 33 of the questionnaire (see Appendix 3) were scored 1 if correct, 0 if incorrect and summated to obtain a total knowledge score. An item analysis was performed using the entire sample and two items (21 and 32) were found to have very low item-total correlations and were consequently dropped from the scale.
Item 21 concerned tested if learners were aware that contraception can be used to prevent pregnancy, while item 32 had to do with "morning-after" contraception. It is not clear why neither item were not coherent with the rest of the knowledge items. The Cronbach alpha reliability of the final scale was 0.61, which is satisfactory. All item-total correlations were above 0.21.
Safe sex attitude scale
Where necessary items 34 to 52 (see Appendix 3) were reversed so that "Strongly Disagree" would be the best answer. Each item was then scored 2 for "Strongly Disagree" and 1 for "Disagree". Item scores were summated to obtain a safe sex attitude score.
An item analysis using the entire sample showed item-total correlations of above 0.2, except for items 41 ("A girl should worry about contraception"), 42 ("A boy should worry about contraception") and 49 ("It’s OK if boys masturbate") and these were consequently dropped from the scale.
Items 41 and 42 may have been read as implying that learners’ sexual behaviour should give them reason to worry, while item 49 may have drawn on attitudes not directly related to safe sex. The Cronbach alpha reliability of the final scale was 0.76, which indicates a high degree of internal consistency. Raw scores are expressed as a percentage of the maximum possible score.
Condom use scale
This was based on items 66 to 71, with scores allocated as follows:
When do you / your boyfriend use condoms?
6 for "I don’t have sex"
5 for "Nearly always"
4 for "Sometimes"
3 for "Only with a new boyfriend/girlfriend
2 for "Hardly ever"
1 for "Never"
Risk behaviour scale
This scale was based on a hierarchy of risk behaviours. If a learner responded on both item 66 and item 72 (see Appendix 3) that s/he did not engage in sexual behaviour a score of 0 was assigned. If a learner indicated that s/he had a single partner and used a condom a score of 1 was assigned.
If a learner indicated that s/he had multiple partners and used a condom a score of 2 was assigned. If a learner indicated that s/he had a single partner but did not use a condom a score of 3 was assigned. Finally, if a learner indicated that s/he had multiple sexual partners and did not use a condom a score of 4 was assigned.