Harvard Magazine Article (Dominican Republic)
Adolescents and AIDS: The Third Wave
"lt's a good sign if you can finish working on your dissertation and still like the topic," says John Chittick, with a grin. And he should know. His thesis has taken him through two years, four states, two countries, and the sale of his company. Entitled "Adolescents and AIDS: The Third Wave," Chittick's dissertation is a revealing study of AIDS education in secondary schools.
"What I have come up with is information suggesting that a third wave of AIDS is starting around the world that is affecting sexually active adolescents," Chittick explains. "Unless we can get effective preventive education to them now, we're going to have a real problem in the next 10 to 20 years."
A graduate of Dartmouth and MIT, John Chittick came to the School of Education in 1981 to study for a second master's degree and his doctorate. "When I started work on my qualifying paper there were a couple of people here at the Ed School who had died of AIDS," Chittick remembered, "and I decided to do something that I felt would have meaning educationally for a group that I cared about -- teenagers who were at real risk for getting HIV/AIDS."
Chittick's research led him to test knowledge of AIDS in three Massachusetts high schools: rural, urban, and suburban. The results indicated little diversity among the various economic levels but widespread misinformation regarding the AIDS virus, as well as parental denial about their children's sexual behavior.
The paper was sufficient to propel John Chittick well into his doctoral dissertation. He sold his Boston-based company in 1993 to return to full-time study. "I wanted to do a follow-up to the '89 survey to see how much change had occurred in attitude and knowledge. The change was tremendous," he noted. "There were significant differences right across the board. The kids
obviously knew the facts. Their attitudes were much better."
But Chittick also noticed something alarming about his results: while students' attitudes had changed, their behaviors had not. A new behavior survey indicated that teens expressed little concern about the AIDS virus because they did not see it affecting their lives. This astounded Chittick, who began to question the AIDS education programs presumably at work in the secondary
schools. To determine if this was a widespread problem, he launched further research studies in Maine, Utah, Illinois, and the Dominican Republic. And when the results pointed toward a national trend, he realized the need for developing new AIDS education curricula.
During interviews, many of the youngsters themselves made suggestions of what they wanted to see happen in AIDS education. They pointed out the need for reality-based information, honest facts, peer leaders, and personal stories from AIDS patients. To support these recommendations, Chittick went on to interview a host of medical experts including Joycelyn Elders, C. Everett
Koop, Jonas Salk, and HIV discoverers Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo.
"These eminent doctors almost mirrored exactly what the teenagers said," recalls Chittick. "The kids really have to see somebody who has AIDS come into their classroom and say 'Look, I was young once, I made a mistake, and if you do, there's a good chance you're going to get AIDS.' When kids hear that, they change."
By Bernadette Walsh
HGSE ALUMNI BULLETIN 27, June, 1996