HORIZONS PROJECT
Promoting Healthy Relationships and HIV/STI Prevention for Young Men in Brazil

There is increasing recognition of the important role played by social norms that promote unequal gender roles in HIV risk, yet few interventions to promote gender-equitable norms and behaviors among young men have been systematically implemented or evaluated. Relatively little is known about how best to measure changes in gender norms and their effect on HIV and STI protective and risk behaviors. Horizons worked with Instituto Promundo to examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve young men’s attitudes toward gender-equitable norms and to reduce HIV and STI risk.

This quasi-experimental study compared the impact of different combinations of program activities on three groups of young men aged 14–25 years. One group received interactive group education sessions led by adult male facilitators; another group received group education as well as a community-wide lifestyle social marketing campaign; and the third served as a control group and received a delayed intervention.

The researchers compared data from pre- and post-intervention surveys that included the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) Scale, which was developed to measure attitudes toward gender norms.

Key findings include:

• At baseline, young men in the study reported substantial HIV and STI risk, which was associated with agreement with inequitable gender norms.
• The gender-based interventions for young men that were examined were feasible and acceptable.
• The interventions fostered diminished support for gender-inequitable norms among the young men in the sample.
• Significant improvements were found in key HIV and STI outcomes, with greater changes often found in the combined intervention site.
• Addressing HIV-related themes from a gender perspective can reduce young men’s level of HIV risk.

Findings from the study indicate that group discussions that encourage critical reflection about the costs of traditional manhood and a media campaign that models gender-equitable behaviors can help young men adopt more positive attitudes and behaviors that protect themselves and their partners from HIV infection.

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Location

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Duration

March 2003–December 2004

Horizons and Population Council researchers

Julie Pulerwitz

(For more information about this study, please contact horizons@popcouncil.org.) 

Non-Council collaborators

Durex

Estudos e Comunicação em Sexualidade e Saúde Reprodutiva

Fernando Acosta (Instituto Noos)

Gary Barker, Marcos Nascimento, Marcio Segundo (Instituto Promundo)

JohnSnowBrasil

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Programa de Apoio ao Pai 

Program H partners

Salud y Género

Donors

US Agency for International Development

Instituto Promundo

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

SSL International

The Summit Foundation

Publications/Resources on this project

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Related Project

• Reducing Young Men's HIV Risk and Violence Against Women by Promoting Gender-equitable Norms and Behavior In India

See Also

• Brazil

• Horizons Program

• Frontiers Program

• Gender, Family, and Development

• Gender and Family Dynamics

• Gender and Family Dynamics/Men and Male Roles

• Gender and Family Dynamics/Power in Relationships

• HIV and AIDS

• HIV and AIDS/Prevention

• Reproductive Health

• Reproductive Health/Men and Reproductive Health

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